ROBERT B. CHOATE JR., 84
Led fight for cereal nutrition labels
Robert B. Choate Jr., a self-styled "citizen lobbyist" who in the 1960s and 1970s played a vital role in exposing malnutrition in America and was best remembered for embarrassing cereal companies into providing nutritional labels on their boxes, died May 3 at a retirement community in Lemon Grove, Calif. He had a medical condition that prevented him from swallowing.
Mr. Choate was a civil engineer before reinventing himself in the late 1950s as a philanthropist, and consumer advocate.
Mr. Choate created his biggest stir in 1970 by ranking the nutritional value of 60 best-selling dry cereals and pointing out that about 40 were no more than "empty calories."
Kellogg's Product 19 and General Mills' Total were listed among the better cereals, based on their vitamin, mineral and protein content. But he said Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and Frosted Flakes, and General Mills' Cheerios and Wheaties, ranked among the worst.
To an industry that spent a reported $87.5 million on TV advertising every year, Choate was not a welcome presence. Industry spokesmen pointed out what they considered flaws in his data. He raised the ante by complaining about how "the worst cereals are huckstered to children" through television advertising.
It was not long before nutritional labels began appearing on cereal boxes.
