If you’re just hearing about General Mills removing GMOs from its original yellow box Cheerios, you might be wondering, “What does this announcement mean anyway?” Well, let’s start from the beginning.
In November 2012, GMO Inside called on consumers to tell General Mills to take the GMOs out of Cheerios. After a year of countless Facebook posts (over 50,000!), email actions, phone calls, media, and a video that went viral, General Mills complied. On January 2nd, GMO Inside discovered an article on the Cheerios website titled, “Cheerios and GMOs.” GMO Inside crafted a press release titled, “Victory for Consumers: General Mills Announces that Original Cheerios are Now Non-GMO” and blasted it out that day to the media and our lists. Throughout that week the story was picked up by every major news outlet and created quite the buzz on social media. We tracked over 250 news hits and collected thousands of comments on news articles, tweets, social media posts, and blogs.
We noted there were many unanswered questions, and some of the coverage failed to provide the factual information needed to understand the scope of the announcement. We’ve pulled together the top five questions and answered them here. Those questions that we couldn’t answer, we are calling on General Mills to clear up.
Q1. Will Cheerios get verified non-GMO from a third party such as the Non-GMO Project?
A. Currently, General Mills said it will put "Not Made with Genetically Modified Ingredients," on its boxes; however, that it is not an official certification. We suggest you call General Mills and tell them you’re not satisfied until Cheerios is verified!
Q2. Did Cheerios change their GMO source for vitamin E, or was this ingredient always non-GMO?
A. Cheerios has not responded to GMO Inside. We will continue to ask them about this ingredient (which tends to be sourced from GMO soy), and we encourage you to ask them too. Cheerios has indicated that corn and sugar ingredients will be sourced non-GMO.
Q3. Why not remove GMOs from all Cheerios products?
A. General Mills stated they will not remove GMOs from any of their other products. Additionally, they stated removing them from their other Cheerios products would be “impossible.” However, with an orderly transition, it is not impossible. There are other similar cereals on the market that are non-GMO, such as Cascadian Farm’s Honey Nut O’s (which is also organic!). Call General Mills’ customer service and ask them to remove GMOs from the rest of their products.
Q4. What’s the big deal about Cheerios removing GMOs anyway?
A. The big deal is that GMO Insiders targeted Cheerios for over a year to remove GMO ingredients from their yellow box product. Last year, General Mills CEO Kendall Powell said that “labeling GMO foods would require labeling virtually every product” in the grocery store. Yet, earlier this month, General Mills announced the removal of GMOs from Cheerios and claimed they “made investments in new systems at our production facilities to separate the ingredients we use to make original Cheerios from our other products.” They also claimed making this change to Cheerios “required significant investment over nearly a year.” The changes in the storing and processing facilities, as well as changes in sourcing non-GMO corn and sugar, are all important and commendable first steps for this company to take. However, General Mills needs to follow up on its commitment by becoming non-GMO verified by a third party, and then expanding non-GMO sourcing to additional products. Remind General Mills that you’re thankful they’ve started this process but you want verification.
Q5. Is General Mills removing GMOs from their original Cheerios yellow box product in Canada and Mexico too?
A. The announcement came from the US Cheerios website and no such announcement has been made on any other Cheerios websites outside of the US. If you would like to call and inquire about Canada or Mexico from inside the US, please call customer service here: 1-800-248-7310 between (7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. CT, weekdays).
Canada: Contact customer service and ask if they are removing GMO ingredients from Canadian Cheerios: 1-800-767-5350 between (9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET, weekdays). You can also send them a letter addressed to: General Mills Canada Corp, 5825 Explorer Drive, Mississauga, ON L4W 5P6
Mexico: In Mexico, Cheerios is sold under the Nestlé brand. You can find more information here. Teléfono de Nestlé España de atención al consumidor: 902 112 113
Got more questions? Ask us here in the comment section or call up General Mills today with your concerns.
Thank you, GMO Insiders, for taking action with us! Together we will take back our food supply!
