The process General Mills put in place to remove GMOs from original Cheerios can be used with other varieties of Cheerios, starting with Honey Nut.
The GMO Inside campaign has launched a major push to get General Mills to drop genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from Honey Nut Cheerios - the company's and the USA's biggest breakfast cereal.
Massive consumer pressure on General Mills persuaded this US food giant to eliminate GMOs from original Cheerios.
In a campaign relying heavily on social media to inform and involve consumers, the company was deluged with over 50,000 online postings to make original Cheerios GMO free.
General Mills' acknowledgment that it was dropping GMOs from original Cheerios created a firestorm of media attention and made millions more Americans aware of the GMOs that are common in the cereals that start their days.
The next logical step
Now, GMO Inside is urging General Mills to take the next logical step in relation to consumer demand and concerns - remove GMOs from Honey Nut Cheerios and use a third-party verifier to ensure that the cereal is, in fact, non-GMO.
Over 6 million people - many of them children - start their day with Honey Nut Cheerios. But Honey Nut Cheerios contain a number of the same ingredients that are at-risk for GMOs as regular Cheerios, just with a higher concentration of sugar.
Now that General Mills has completed a year-long process to remove GMOs from regular Cheerios, consumers will pressure the company to remove GMOs from their other cereals, starting with Honey Nut Cheerios.
In addition consumers will continue to push General Mills needs to use third party verification to provide consumers with the assurance that its products are genuinely non-GMO.
Grape nuts now GMO-free
Recently, Post Foods revealed to its customers that it is removing GMOs from its original Grape Nuts Cereal. Post is going one step further than General Mills by using third party verification to ensure Grape Nuts is non-GMO.
Post has also stated to its customers that it is exploring removing GMOs from other products.
"General Mills has the opportunity to build on the important step they took in making regular Cheerios non-GMO by now taking the GMOs out of America's favorite breakfast cereal, Honey Nut Cheerios", said Green America's GMO Inside Campaign Director Nicole McCann.
"More and more consumers are looking for non-GMO options, especially for the foods that they feed to their children, and those consumers will be letting General Mills know they want the GMOs off their breakfast table."
The right move
"General Mills made the right move in removing GMOs from original Cheerios", said Green America President and GMO Inside Co-Chair Alisa Gravitz.
"However, General Mills has sent confusing messages to its customers by saying that it was able to remove GMOs from original Cheerios because of their unique formula, but can't remove them from other flavors of Cheerios.
"The reality is that the process General Mills put in place to remove GMOs from original Cheerios can be used with other varieties of Cheerios, starting with Honey Nut."
"The company also denies that it made the change due to consumer demand, while claiming it listens to its customers. The truth is that General Mills responded correctly to enormous consumer pressure in removing GMOs from original Cheerios.
"Now consumers will put pressure on General Mills to remove GMOs from their other cereals, starting with Honey Nut Cheerios."
Green America is the nation's leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America (formerly Co-op America) provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses, investors, and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems.
GMO Inside is a campaign dedicated to helping all Americans know which foods have GMOs inside, and the non-GMO verified and organic certified alternatives to genetically engineered foods. Join the campaign and take part in the GMO Inside community on Facebook and Twitter.
