Shreddies are a breakfast cereal marketed in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. It was first produced in Canada in 1939 by Nabisco. The Shreddies brand is held by Post Consumer Brands in Canada, and Nestlé in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
History
In Canada, production began in 1939 at Lewis Avenue, Niagara Falls, Ontario.[1] As of 2024, this plant was still in operation.[2]
Shreddies were produced under the Nabisco name until the brand in Canada was purchased in 1993 by Post Cereals,[3][4] whose parent company in 1995 became Kraft General Foods, which sold Post to Ralcorp in 2008 and is now Post Foods Canada Corp., a unit of Post Holdings, which was spun off from Ralcorp in 2012.[citation needed]
In the United Kingdom, the cereal was first produced by Nabisco's former UK division but was later made by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand at a factory in Welwyn Garden City. The factory opened in 1926 and began making Shreddies in 1953.[citation needed] The site was briefly owned by Rank Hovis McDougall in 1988, which sold it to Cereal Partners in 1990. Nestlé's site at Staverton, Wiltshire started making Shreddies in 1998, and all production was moved there in 2007.[5][6]
In 2005, Shreddies were advertised as school fuel. The advertisements showed schoolchildren being focused on their work at school after eating a bowl of Shreddies for breakfast at home. This TV advertisement was ordered to be removed by the UK Advertising Standards Authority as it was held to provide an unfair comparison between school children eating Shreddies or eating nothing, rather than a similar cereal.[8]
In 2008, an award-winning advertising campaign in Canada was created by created Ogilvy and Mather, co-written by Tim Piper, for "Diamond Shreddies" .[9][10] The ad won the Grand Clio and Cannes awards.[11][12]
In January 2012, boxes of Shreddies dating from the early 1970s were reported to be selling on eBay, after being discovered in a village shop. They were reported to have been selling for about £160 per box.[13]
1 Currently manufactured by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. 3 U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. 5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 7 Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods elsewhere. 8 Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. 9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. 10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. 11 Used only in the Philippines. 12 U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. 13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. 14 Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. 15 Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020.
