Froot Loops is a sweetened, fruit-flavored breakfast cereal made by WK Kellogg Co for the United States, Canadian, and Caribbean markets and Kellanova for the rest of the world. The brand was solely owned by the original Kellogg Company before it spun off its North American cereal division as WK Kellogg Co in late 2023.[1] The fruit-flavored cereal pieces are ring-shaped, with a variety of bright colors.
Kellogg's introduced Froot Loops in 1963.[3] Originally, there were only red, orange and yellow loops; green, blue and purple loops were added during the 1990s, with blue being introduced last in 1996.
The loops all share the same fruit-blend flavor.[4][5] Different production methods are used in the UK, where the company misleadingly sold the idea that each individual loop color was a different flavor.[citation needed]
Mascot
Toucan Sam has been the mascot of Froot Loops since its first appearance. Toucan Sam is a blue anthropomorphictoucan; the colors of his bill correspond to the three original Froot Loop colors.[6] He is portrayed as having an uncanny ability to smell Froot Loops from great distances and locates a concealed bowl of the cereal while intoning "Follow my nose! It always knows!"[7] or "Follow my nose! For the fruity taste that shows!"
Toucan Sam was first voiced by voice actor Mel Blanc, originally with an "American accent" and later by Maurice LaMarche, changing to a "British accent".[8]
Varieties
Kellogg's made several varieties of snack foods, including snack bags called Snack Ums. Snack Ums were similar to the cereal but larger. Their slogan was "Super-sized bites with deliciously intense natural fruit flavors" and "Flavor Bursting!"[9] Froot Loops-branding by Kellogg's was also used with the Froot Loops cereal bar,[10] and in 2021 Froot Loops Pop-Tarts.
In 2012, Kellogg's introduced Froot Loops to the UK market for a limited time with only the secondary colors (orange, green, and purple), as natural color substitutes for red, yellow, and blue could not be found. The recipe also differed from the US version. Kellogg's stated that "due to European legislation we have been unable to produce Froot Loops to the same specifications as the US product. The formulations are different, including sugar and salt levels and the UK version has been produced with natural food additives and flavorings which will account for the differences in appearance and taste between the two products." The UK Froot Loops are also larger in size compared with their American counterparts, and due to the different method of formulation, are a much coarser cereal. In September 2015, Kellogg's removed Froot Loops from the UK market due to a lack of demand for the cereal, although in 2017, a special Unicorn Froot Loops limited edition was released in the UK.[11] As of 2019, special limited edition Unicorn Froot Loops, Mermaid Froot Loops, and Baby Shark Froot Loops cereals have been made available.
