Cindy Crawford, Eva Mendes Among Celebs Urging Kellogg’s to Stop Using Artificial Ingredients

Nearly a dozen Hollywood stars have joined a nationwide boycott against WK Kellogg Co. over the past month.
Celebrities, including model Cindy Crawford and actresses Eva Mendes and Daniella Monet, are urging the popular breakfast cereal brand to end the use of artificial dyes and preservatives in its foods.
Monet took to her Instagram Stories last week to champion the campaign, spearheaded by Vani Hari, founder of the Food Babe blog, and Jason Karp, the founder and chief executive officer of the mission-driven private holding company HumanCo.
“Manifesting that this movement creates an undeniable trickle effect amongst so many huge businesses that hold the power of so many Americans’ health in their hands,” the actress shared in a subsequent post.
Hari, a New York Times best-selling author and food activist, told The Epoch Times via email that celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres, Candace Cameron Bure, Gwyneth Paltrow, and several members of the Kardashian family, including Kim, Khloé, and Kourtney Kardashian, have also voiced support for the campaign.
“Our goal is to complete this transition by the end of 2018,” he said.
In October 2023, the Kellogg Company split into two separate companies: the global snacking company Kellanova and WK Kellogg Co., which produces cereal brands in North America, such as Corn Pops and Frosted Flakes.
According to WK Kellogg Co.’s website, some of its fruit-flavored breakfast cereals, including Froot Loops and Apple Jacks, feature synthetic food dyes, including red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, and blue 1.
Some of the company’s cereals, including the two aforementioned brands as well as its strawberry-flavored Frosted Mini-Wheats and Special K Original Cereal, also contain BHT, or butylated hydroxytoluene. The lab-made chemical is often added to foods as a preservative “for freshness.”
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), color additives “are safe when they are used in accordance with FDA regulations.”
However, Dr. Ana-Maria Temple, a holistic pediatrician based in Charlotte, North Carolina, believes the FDA’s regulations aren’t stringent enough.
“More than 10,000 chemicals are allowed to be added to food in the United States, under the 1958 Food Additives Amendment to the 1938 Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act,” she told The Epoch Times.
“An estimated 1,000 chemicals are used under a ‘Generally Recognized as Safe’ (GRAS) designation without FDA approval or notification,” Temple said. “Random consultants or company personnel designate a food as GRAS without any data or study requirements.”
A representative for WK Kellogg Co. told The Epoch Times via email that the quality and safety of its foods is its “top priority.”
“We ensure our products—and the ingredients we use to make them—are compliant with all applicable relevant laws and regulations, and we remain committed to transparently labeling our ingredients so consumers can easily make choices about the food they purchase,” the statement reads in part.
The representative, who did not supply their name, added that more than 85 percent of the company’s cereal sales do not contain any colors derived from artificial sources.
Upon their arrival, Hari said protesters encountered a sign that read “Get Off My Lawn,” which was displayed in one of the windows of the company’s high-rise building.
“They refused to meet with any of us. Even a Kellogg’s shareholder and the elected officials who were there with us were denied a meeting. This is a slap in every American’s face!” the author said.
“They could have come out as the hero and done the right thing for American families, but instead, now they are facing a national boycott,” Hari added. “This will be seen as the biggest PR mistake by a food company in history.”
WK Kellogg Co.’s spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the company did receive Hari’s petition.
“We respect the right for all to express their opinions,” the company said in its statement, adding that it plans to review the petition and share it with the FDA.