The Reason Kellogg's Legendary Yogos Were Discontinued

Do you remember Kellogg's Yogos? They were a flash in the pan of the snack world, but oh what a bright flash they were. First released by Kellogg's back in 2005, Yogos were bite-sized balls of fruit-flavored chewy candy coated in a crunchy yogurt shell, making them sweet and candy-like. However, people often questioned whether the slightly different colored balls in any given box actually represented distinct flavors, or whether they all tasted the same and our eyes were playing tricks on our tastebuds. It didn't really seem to matter, though, as Yogos became an icon of the mid-2000s snack scene.

And yet, after only five years, they abruptly vanished from shelves, gone to the graveyard of discontinued snacks. What happened to drive these delicious treats out of our lives? Contemporary sources paint an interesting picture. It seems that concerns about the snack's health impacts could have been its undoing, as these concerns about Yogos started garnering bad press in the late 2000s.

Despite the fact that Kellogg's ultimately discontinued Yogos, the fruity snacks evidently had no trouble winning over customers. Sales reports from the company circa 2006 and 2007 identified Yogos as posting strong sales. However, the CDC had first drawn attention to the American obesity epidemic with a series of reports published in 1999, and the following decade saw food and beverage brands face increasing scrutiny over the nutritional content of their products, particularly in regard to sugar.

That happened to be one area where Yogos fell short. A single serving of Yogos contained 15 grams of sugar. To put into perspective how much that is, the American Heart Association recommends no more than 25 to 36 grams of added sugar per day, and that's the upper limit for adults.

Ever since Yogos were first released, they had been criticized for being candy in disguise. Then, in 2007, the Better Business Bureau unveiled the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, wherein a group of the largest food and beverage manufacturers in the country pledged to set nutritional criteria for their products. Kellogg's own criteria were heavily criticized for allowing unhealthy amounts of sugar, something highlighted in a 2010 The New York Times article that specifically called out Yogos for their nutritional content. Shortly after, Yogos were gone.

Ever since Yogos were discontinued, fans have been clamoring for their return. A petition circulated online via iPetitions has garnered just over 17,500 signatures (as of 2023), and at least two separate petitions have been made on Change.org advocating for the same cause. However, it seems like these efforts have been in vain and that Yogos will not be returning to shelves anytime soon, if ever. In a Twitter thread from 2018, Kellogg's stated that "there are no current plans for Yogos to make a comeback."

You might not be able to get the original Yogos anymore, but there are alternatives. There's a yogurt-coated version of Welch's Fruit Snacks called Welch's Fruit 'n Yogurt Snacks that appears to be particularly popular among fans of Yogos. In a Reddit thread from 2018, one user declared them to be "the closest thing" to the bygone Kellogg's favorite. Unfortunately, they present the same health concerns as Yogos, since a 20-gram serving of Fruit 'n Yogurt Snacks delivers 10 grams of added sugar. However, they could be just the thing to satisfy those nostalgic cravings.