Mexico is getting serious about childhood obesity. Officials seized 380,000 boxes of Kellogg's cereals last week because they have cartoons or mascots on them in violation of recent laws preventing the marketing of allegedly unhealthy products to children.
Corn Flakes, Special K and other Kellogg’s cereals were taken from 75 sales outlets, but the vast majority of the seizures were carried out at a warehouse north of Mexico City, according to Associated Press.
AP reported Mexico’s consumer protection agency said the cereal boxes also did not clearly state nutritional values like calories, fats, salt or sugar, or didn’t have the proper warning signs for levels of those ingredients that are considered excessive.
Other media reported 73% of the Mexican population is considered overweight, according to a 2020 study. Some regional lawmakers have banned the sale of sugar-sweetened drinks and high-calorie snacks to children, and proposed fines and potential closures for stores breaching these rules.
Remezcla, an American digital publisher focusing on Latin American issues, reported the Mexico law banning the cartoon mascots on food packages was first passed in 2018 but just recently went into effect.
Kellogg did not offer comments for any of the media stories.
