Our Nutrition
Our Nutrition Facts labels have recently received its most substantial update in two decades. At first glance, the new label may not seem all that different, but if you look closely you’ll notice that it’s been improved to provide more helpful nutrition information that realistically reflects the way we eat today.
In order to help you navigate these changes, we’ve answered some questions to help explain the recent changes you see.
Not really - Per the FDA Label Reform, the FDA requires us to label our food differently to ensure we reflect the serving sizes of what people are actually consuming. With the increase in serving size, you will notice the increase in other nutrients (like sugar) on the label as well.
For example, the old label told you how many calories were in 1 cup of Special K® Red Berries. The new label tells you how many calories are in 1 ¼ cup of Special K® Red Berries. If you prefer a smaller serving size, we recommend measuring out 1 cup of Special K® Red Berries.
The ADDED sugar row is a new addition to the label and tells you how many grams of sugar were added into the recipe. The TOTAL sugars row above it includes the added sugars just mentioned, plus any naturally occurring sugars coming from fruit, grains or other ingredients in the recipe.
For example, if you are baking oatmeal raisin cookies and the recipe calls for ½ cup sugar, this would be labeled in the ADDED sugar row. If it also calls for ½ cup of raisins, the sugar from the raisins would be labeled in the TOTAL sugars row, along with the ½ cup of sugar you added separately. You do not add total and added sugar rows together, total sugars include the added sugars, this is why it is indented on the label.
Per the FDA Label Reform, the FDA changed some of the daily value recommendations for vitamins and minerals. After copious research, it was found that recommendations for vitamins and minerals needed updating. We crafted a new vitamin and mineral blend to address key nutrients for people, with these new recommendations in mind. Many Special K® variants now feature a blend of vitamins that people don’t get enough of, including vitamin C, E, D and A. Special K® Protein specifically has a blend of calcium, magnesium and vitamin D, which help protein to do its job better!
In the midst of label changes, we did optimize some ingredients! Most of our Special K® cereals now feature whole grain as the 1st ingredient! We’ve also made other improvements such as removing ingredients like sucralose in our Protein line and synthetic colors and artificial flavors in our core line.
Want to learn more about the new labels? Click here.