Frankly, I was astonished when I saw this report from last week which announces that Denmark has banned 18 Kellogg products, including Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and Special K. Holy moly! People have been eating these products for generations and, if there were any problem with them, one would expect to have already heard of specific health concerns. But, no! Out of the clear blue comes the prohibition by authorities in Denmark.
As best that I can discern (I've been searching for information for several days) is that the basis for the ban is that:
". . . a government laboratory conducted a scientific examination of the ingredient lists . . . ."So, they looked at the label. Great!
The reading-the-label method of scientific justification seems rather weak when the products in question have been bought and consumed for ages and, to my knowledge, nobody has died from corn flake poisoning so far.
To be fair, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration through their representative, Paolo Drotsby, stated the ban was instituted due to potential harm from enrichment with vitamins and minerals. No scientific basis, however, has been disclosed to support their assertion so there is no way to evaluate its validity.
In a way, I really sympathize with the folks at the Kellogg Company for having to walk a tightrope. They get criticized if they don't fortify their products with vitamins and minerals and they get banned when they do. That said, I need to mention that I have no love for Kellogg nor any other cereal company. Any company that can take a $4 bushel of corn and turn it into $500 worth of corn flakes I figure is scamming somebody.
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