FAMU Breakfast Cereal Products Comparative Analysis Report

Part I. Choose two different kinds of breakfast cereal products.

Choose a product that is your favorite cereal (“favorite”), and choose another product which you believe is a healthy choice of cereal (“healthy”). When you choose these products, do NOT use the nutrition facts label, but use other information (e.g. packaging, health/nutrition claims, commercials)

Keep in mind that not all seemingly healthy products are healthy.

These two products don’t have to be similar.  

These products don’t have to be from the same manufacturer.

• You don’t have to purchase the products. You can find the information from the website, or you can simply take pictures of the products from a grocery store (make sure to take pictures of nutrition facts label for both products).

If you do not eat breakfast cereals, you can choose different types of food product – Discuss this option with your instructor.  Do NOT choose other products without discussing with the instructor first.

Part II. Compare Nutrition Facts Labels

1. Using Nutrition Facts Labels on both products’ package, compare both products.
2. Inspect food packaging as well. When you inspect the products, think about following:
3. Is there any health claim?
4. Is there any nutrient content claim?
5. Does the product have any cartoon character on its package?

Is the product endorsed by an athlete?

(For the healthy product) What makes you think this product is healthy?

Part III. Analyzing Nutrition Information and answer the questions

1. After thoroughly inspecting both products, answer the given questions.
2. For your report, the questions and the table is provided in the report template. You can use the template, or you can write your own report (just make sure you answer all questions)

Write a report (using the given templateActions or your own format) based on what you learned from your analysis. Your report will cover the following topics (For details, please use the report template).

• Product Name and manufacturer
• Pictures of each cereal product and their Nutrition Facts label: Pictures can be your own (preferred) or from manufacturers. When you use the manufacturer’s pictures, make sure it is current. Surprisingly, many manufacturers’ website still contain outdated information and/or pictures. Don’t forget to cite your sources.
• Serving size, calories per serving, and nutrient content: Most cereal products provide dual column nutrition facts label (one column with cereals only, and another column with cereals consumed with skim milk). For this assignment, use the cereals only column.
• Ingredient list analysis 
• Health claims and/or nutrient content claims

Food packaging and labeling