Assessing nutritional value of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals in the province of Quebec (Canada): a study from the Food Quality Observatory

The Food Quality Observatory was created in the province of Quebec (Canada) in 2016. In this study, the Observatory aimed to generate a methodology to (1) test the use of sales data combined with nutrient values to characterise the nutritional composition of ready-to-eat (RTE) breakfast cereals offered and purchased in the province of Quebec (Canada) and (2) verify the extent to which a front-of-pack label based on the percentage of daily value (DV) for total sugar, as a strategy to improve the food supply, would be distributed in this food category. Nutritional information were obtained by purchasing each RTE breakfast cereal available in the Greater Montreal area. Cereals were then classified according to their processing type. The nutritional values of 331 RTE breakfast cereals available in Quebec were merged with sales data covering the period between May 2016 and May 2017. A total of 306 products were successfully cross-referenced. Granola and sweetened cereals were the most available (36·6 % and 19·6 %, respectively) and purchased (19·8 % and 40·9 % of sales, respectively). When compared with other types of cereals, granola cereals had a higher energy, fat, saturated fat, protein content and a lower Na content. A larger proportion of chocolate (65 %) and sweetened cereals (49 %) were above 15 % of the DV for sugar. This study showed that the methodology developed generates important data to monitor nutritional quality of the food supply and ultimately contribute to improve the nutritional quality of processed foods.