We will BOYCOTT KELLOGG’S & FERRERO until Ferrero reformulates all products
INTRO
The Ferrero Group, an Italian, family owned company, is under contract to acquire WK Kellogg Company, the North American cereal spinoff created in 2023 when the original Kellogg’s split into two public companies, WK Kellogg Co and Kellanova.
Ferrero claims it is a family company with strong values. Ferrero states its “commitment to the quality, safety and integrity of its products is at the heart of everything” it does. The company claims its “commitment to knowing every single detail about raw ingredients has been in the DNA of the company since it was founded in 1946” and “this focus on fresh quality ingredients, nurtured and sourced from carefully selected suppliers and farmers, continues to inform our commitment and care for checking the ingredients every step of the way.”
Ferrero also states, “Ferrero’s Advertising and Marketing Principles are clear: we do not direct our advertising and marketing communications to children under 13.”
BACKGROUND
GMO Free USA began a boycott of the Kellogg’s Company in 2012 after identifying the company as the worst offender of marketing junk food cereals and snacks that are nutritionally devoid and full of toxins to growing, vulnerable children.
GMO Free USA commissioned tests by an accredited lab on Froot Loops cereal, which is heavily marketed to children. The lab quantified the corn in the cereal as 100% GMO Bt and Roundup Ready. GMO Bt corn contains high levels of toxic, synthetic insecticides genetically engineered into the corn DNA that can’t be washed off. Synthetic Bt insecticides are linked to organ damage, immune system disturbances and reproductive harm. The soy in the cereal contained DNA sequences known to be present in Roundup Ready GMO soybeans. Further tests detected 120 ppb (parts per billion) of glyphosate, the so-called active ingredient in Roundup herbicide. A 2025 comprehensive global carcinogenicity study found that low doses of the weedkiller cause multiple types of cancer in rats.
GMO/Toxin Free USA’s most recent tests of Froot Loops detected organic fluorine, an indicator of PFAS chemicals in the cereal. PFAS are endocrine disruptors, neurotoxins, carcinogens, reproductive and developmental toxins, and are linked to a long and growing list of health harms. There is no safe level of PFAS. PFAS chemicals, also known as “Forever Chemicals” because they don’t break down in nature, have been found to bioaccumulate in all organs of the human body. PFAS have been found to be toxic at levels in the single digit parts per trillion (ppt).
GMO Free USA also commissioned an accredited lab to test Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and found that the corn was so overprocessed that there was no identifiable corn DNA in the cereal. Is there more nutritional value in the cardboard box than the cereal inside it?
Recent tests by another organization detected higher levels of glyphosate herbicide in an organic Kashi cereal than in other conventional cereals tested. Kellogg’s clearly doesn’t care about its customers.
OUR DEMANDS
Americans want and deserve the same recipes and ingredients as the food sold in the EU, UK and other more health-conscious countries around the world.
The USA is in the midst of a public health crisis, fueled in part by the ultraprocessed junk corporations are allowed to sell as “food.” These “foods” are banned from sale in places like the EU and UK due to the presence of toxins such as banned pesticides and other troubling chemicals. Other ingredients such as GMOs (aka Bioengineered Foods) have been rejected by the general public in the EU and UK due to valid concerns and are generally not found in the human food supply in those places.
The FDA and EPA allow Americans to be lab rats for the rest of the world. Big Food and Big Chemical companies are allowed to determine the safety of the products they profit from, flooding the supermarkets with items containing toxins like pesticides, emulsifiers and processing aids that are not disclosed on food labels. Big Food has taken control of our food supply and unhealthy, ultraprocessed foods have sadly become the norm.
Kellogg’s recently announced a commitment to voluntarily remove toxic synthetic food colors from all products. The company’s target date, the end of 2027, is unacceptable and suspect. In fact, in 2015 Kellogg’s announced this same commitment to remove artificial colors by 2018.
In 2020, the company announced plans to phase out the use of glyphosate as a pre-harvest drying agent in its wheat and oat supply chain in the United States by the end of 2025. The plan was quietly dropped without public announcement and was likely just a marketing ploy to prop up its depressed stock price.
Kellogg’s track record speaks for itself—when it comes to ditching toxic ingredients, their promises are as empty as their nutrition labels.
Further, removing synthetic food dyes won’t make America healthy. Synthetic dyes are just the tip of the iceberg.
No living being should be eating these toxins. American consumers want and deserve the same ingredients and products in EU and UK foods.
Announce a reasonable timeline to reformulate all products to EU standards or face a continued boycott of Kellogg’s and an additional boycott of all Ferrero brands.
PETITION TO THE ATTENTION OF: Executive Chairman, The Ferrero Group Giovanni Ferrero, CEO and Chairman of the WK Kellogg Co. Gary Pilnick.
SUBJECT
Reformulate Kellogg’s and Ferrero Products to Match EU Standards
MESSAGE
American families want and deserve the same safer, cleaner recipes you sell in the EU, UK, and other health-conscious nations.
Kellogg’s products in the U.S. are loaded with ingredients banned abroad—pesticides, GMOs, PFAS, and synthetic additives—many of which are linked to cancer, hormone disruption, and other serious health risks. Our regulatory agencies let Big Food and Big Chemical police themselves, while Americans serve as lab rats.
GMO/Toxin Free USA has been calling for Kellogg’s to make these changes since 2012. Lab tests revealed insecticidal, Roundup Ready GMO corn and GMO soy, glyphosate residues, and now PFAS “Forever Chemicals” in cereals like Froot Loops marketed to children.
Corn Flakes were so ultraprocessed, the lab was unable to detect any recognizable corn DNA in the cereal.
Kellogg’s weak pledge to remove artificial dyes by 2027 is too little, too late—and ignores far worse toxins still present today.
Your company makes bold value, quality and standards claims. As you take control of WK Kellogg Co, we demand immediate action. End the toxic double standard. Reformulate Kellogg’s products for U.S. consumers. Americans want and deserve the same, safer recipe formulas and ingredients your company already uses in Europe.
Clean it up—now.
