Cap'n Crunch isn’t being quietly taken off store shelves due to its nutritional content.
For the last several days, the Internet has been abuzz with rumors Cap'n Horatio Magellan Crunch is going to be discontinued due to its high sugar content. However, PepsiCo., the parent company of the cereal, has not announced any plans to retire the Cap'n.
In a tweet, Crunch wrote, "I'm hearing the rumors. I would never retire. I love being a captain too much!"
PepsiCo. and other food companies are under pressure from the White House to make their products healthier. Activists have long been irate over the marketing of sweetened cereals such as Cap'n Crunch to children. Last year, PepsiCo vowed to reduce added sugar per serving by 25 percent and saturated fat by 15 percent in its products over the next 10 years.
A single serving of Original Cap'n Crunch has 12 grams of sugar, which nutritionists say is almost half of the recommended daily intake.
"Our research shows that PepsiCo is no longer marketing Cap'n Crunch cereal directly to children. In a sense, you could say that they have retired Cap'n Crunch, and that's a good thing," wrote Jennifer Harris, director of Marketing Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University, in an email to Daily Finance. "Unfortunately, children continue to view hundreds of ads per year for high-sugar cereals from General Mills, Kellogg's and Post Foods."
The cereal company has been losing share as healthier products grab the market. Cap'n Crunch generated more than $118.6 million in sales last year from supermarkets, drugstores and mass-market retailers, down 6.8% from a year earlier.
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