Adventist-Produced Breakfast Cereal Featured in Australian Coin Collection

By: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

Weet-Bix, a breakfast cereal manufactured by a Seventh-day Adventist health food company in Australia, is set to cement its icon status. The cereal was chosen recently as part of a new dollar-coin collection created by Australia Post (the post office system in Australia) and the Royal Australia Mint.

The high-fiber, low-sugar cereal produced by Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company was assigned the letter “W” in a 26-piece A-to-Z coin collection that features elements related to Australian culture and language.

In justifying its decision to include Weet-Bix in the new coin collection, Australia Post said that Australian children “have been Weet-Bix kids since the 1920s,” and added, “From east coast to west, this iconic brekkie [breakfast] is Australia’s favorite way to rise and shine.”

Australia Post also shared that Australians eat around 2.4 billion Weet-Bixevery year. According to several sources, Weet-Bix has been the best-selling breakfast cereal in the country for many years.

About Weet-Bix

According to Sanitarium, which manufactures Weet-Bix in Australia and New Zealand, the star breakfast cereal “is packed full of 97% whole grain goodness, and provides [consumers] with a good source of iron and Vitamins B1, B2 and B3 to help release the energy [people] need to kickstart [their] day, as part of a balanced diet.” The company also said that Weet-Bix provides a natural source of fiber and is low in fat and sugar and contains five essential vitamins and minerals.

Sanitarium explained that even though the Weet-Bix recipe has changed little through the years, the brand has evolved in response to breakfast trends, dietary requirements, and population health challenges.

In 2014, Sanitarium introduced Gluten Free Weet-Bix, made from sorghum instead of wheat, catering for celiac and gluten-sensitive consumers. Two years later, Weet-Bix Cholesterol Lowering was launched, the first cereal in Australia to include the Heart Foundation’s recommended 2 grams of plant sterols per serving. In recognition of this innovation, Weet-Bix Cholesterol Lowering was named Australian Healthy Food Guide’s 2017 Product of the Year.

In October 2018, Weet-Bix turned 90 years old.

The Coin Collection

According to Australia Post, the new one-dollar coin collection, minted by the Royal Australian Mint, is a “fun and nostalgic celebration of Australian life.” The collection assigned letter A to “Australia Post,” letter B to “Boomerang,” all the way to letter Z, which was given to “Zooper Dooper,” a fruit-flavored frozen dessert bar very common in Australia.

Other words selected include “Kangaroo,” “Outback,” “Platypus,” and the common greeting “G’Day.”

The first coins in the collection were released on October 1, with the remaining coins released, several at a time, on each Monday until October 21.