Johannesburg – Iconic South African cereal brand ProNutro has been discontinued after 64 years on store shelves, following months of consumer backlash over its reformulated “New Generation” product.
According to BusinessTech, PepsiCo, which owns the Bokomo brand, confirmed through its customer care service that production of ProNutro had been discontinued with immediate effect. The decision follows complaints about the new formulation and difficulties reproducing the previous version.
The cereal was launched in South Africa in 1962 and became a household staple. Its latest troubles began earlier this year after PepsiCo introduced a new recipe with a different texture and reduced sugar content.
The change triggered widespread complaints from consumers, prompting ProNutro to apologise in April.
The company said the reformulation was partly driven by ageing manufacturing equipment, which had become unreliable and made it increasingly difficult to maintain consistent product quality.
“Consumers expressed concern predominantly around the new product’s texture and mixability,” ProNutro said at the time.
The company also confirmed that the old formulation would not return, saying it would instead work on improving the new product.
ProNutro disappears from shelves
By August, reports suggested the cereal was becoming increasingly difficult to find at major retailers.
The Citizen’s Caxton Network News reported that searches of Woolworths, Pick n Pay, Checkers and SPAR online stores in several provinces found little or no ProNutro cereal available, although some stores still had limited stock.
ProNutro had earlier warned consumers that they might not see the cereal on shelves while improvements were being made.
“You may not see us on the shelf for a little while as we focus on these improvements,” the brand said in a social media statement.
A South African food retailer abroad later reported that the cereal would not be produced for the remainder of 2026, saying the manufacturer’s new machinery could not reproduce the product in the same way as before.
“The response from loyal customers was very clear – people wanted the ProNutro they knew and loved,” the retailer said.
Consumer backlash
The reformulation also attracted attention from consumer journalists and regulators.
EWN reported in April that PepsiCo attributed the changes partly to “ageing infrastructure and unreliable equipment performance”, saying the old equipment could eventually have affected product quality.
In July, TimesLIVE reported that the Advertising Regulatory Board dismissed a complaint over the new packaging, finding that consumers were clearly informed that the product had a “new taste and texture”.
The ARB ruling did not assess whether consumers preferred the new recipe, but focused on whether the packaging was misleading.
With PepsiCo now ending production, the 64-year-old cereal’s future appears to have reached a decisive point, after months of shortages and criticism surrounding the reformulation.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
