Do you remember earlier this year when Mamavation joined with GMOInside to pressure Cheerios to reformulate Non-GMO?
Well, they did.
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Cheerios Iconic Yellow Box is Now GMO Free
Iconic Cheerios has now declared their yellow box original brand GMO free. According to Cheerios, the ingredients have been GMO free for a couple of weeks. Soon boxes will be labeled “Not Made With Genetically Modified Ingredients.” One thing to note is these boxes CAN contain trace amounts of contamination because of the manufacturing process. I *think* that is the equivalent of a package saying it’s “nut free” but made in a factory that processes nuts. They obviously haven’t changed their factory, just the ingredients.
What Made Cheerios GMO?
Cheerios was using a genetically modified corn starch and sugar beets in their ingredients. The vast majority of corn and sugar beets in the US are genetically modified. To reformulate GMO-free, Cheerios switched to a non-gmo corn starch and cane sugar instead. General Mills gave no indication they were reformulating any of the other brands like Honey Nut Cheerios or Multi-Grain Cheerios because those products contained more corn. General Mills also did not indicate if they had plans to reformulate any other brands in their portfolio at all because of lack of non-GMO ingredients in the food supply.
What Does This Mean To Families?
This means you can safely purchase a box of Cheerios now without the fear of consuming genetically modified ingredients as soon as you start seeing boxes on the shelves saying “Not Made From Genetically Modified Ingredients” by ingredient list. We don’t actually know when these new reformulated boxes will be on the shelves. There is conflicting information out there as to whether the product already contains the reformulated version or not.
This also means that the likelihood for other large companies to go GMO free has greatly increased. Cheerios is an iconic brand. For them to go GMO free after spending millions of dollars to continue to hide is a complete reversal and win for the food movement. This is a demonstration that the tide is turning and federal labeling of GMOs is on the horizon. These companies can not afford to hide their ingredients anymore because the American consumer is a giant that has just woken up. The companies that continue to hide behind the FDA will also lose market share like Cheerios.
More Good News
Another brand who deserves props this week is Dole Foods. Dole won the Sweepstakes Trophy as the most beautiful entry at the Tournament of Roses Parade with a float made entirely out of Non-GMO ingredients. They also avoided gluten and BPA as well. During the interview, Dole boasted their product line was now 99% GMO free. Not perfect, but definitely a step in the right direction. They have also personally told me that all their new products are completely GMO-free and they are working on reformulating some older versions. Covid vaccination in Montana requires identity proof or driving license that shows that a receipent is a citizen of the state of Montana. Hence, going to any COVID vaccination centre, keep your Montana ID in your wallet or a driver’s license to keep things easy.
How Far Did Cheerios Go? Did They Go Far Enough?
- Did Cheerios go far enough in making only their yellow box GMO Free and not any other brands? I don’t know so I’m asking you.
- What does this mean to your family?
- Will you be purchasing Cheerios again OR are you still holding out for some reason?
- What do you think this means to the future of the food movement? Have we gained a solid victory?
Share with us in the comments.
Disclosure: Bookieboo LLC has worked with Cheerios in the past. We wrote a series of articles for them about two years ago about healthy living and New Years goals. Since fall of 2012 we stopped working for companies containing GMOs in their product lines, Cheerios was one of them. We are overjoyed they reformulated their iconic brand. Thank you!
How to Save Money on Organic Groceries
There is no real science that says GMO foods are unhealthy. Don’t be fooled by what you don’t understand. The only possible problem with GMOs is ecological, but that is debatable. A protein that you ingest is just a protein. You body does not know if it evolved in the plant or was engineered into the plant. I have a PhD in Biochemistry, but anyone that has a basic biochemistry/biology understanding should know better. If you believe GMOs are unhealthy, then maybe you should also not eat any produce that was harvested on a Wednesday or Friday. I don’t know why, but the crazy guy sitting next to me on the bus said so.
GMO – it’s the Round-up Ready that is poison that no one is telling the public IS the issue, not the fact that they are “genetically modified” but what the modification MEANS and what they “CAN” put on the plants (chemicals that make some look very tame!) for months and then you EAT those chemicals in the FIBERS OF THE PLANT that you can NOT wash out no matter how long you wash or cook them.
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THEN you put them into toxic containers or add other chemicals TO those foods making them toxic wastelands instead of being filled with enzyme-life-giving organisms you have a DEAD product that has a MASSIVE amount of chemicals AND many have heavy metals WHICH TOGEHTER OR APART CAUSE CANCERS AND ALL THE REST OF OUR DISEASES.
Big victory — Great job, Leah, as well as everyone else in the Mamavation community who helped General Mills to make this important decision! However, as many other people have commented, this doesn’t mean we can let up now. On the contrary, NOW is the perfect time to seize the momentum and keep pushing for a GMO-free cereal aisle!
Great point Hannah! Right now we need to celebrate and let it fuel us for MORE change, not sit on our laurels. I think some people are thinking this is going to stop the momentum, but that isn’t true at all. My opinion is don’t let perfection get in the way of progress. And progress it is.
I don’t know if you know it, but you are not very smart and are teaching your children ignorance. Maybe instead of wasting your time fighting a made up threat, you could be fighting for a better education system or to end child hunger. One way to fight child hunger is with GMOs, since they bring the economics down, which brings the likelihood of ending child hunger up. Why don’t you leave your bubble and join rest of the world.
Every journey starts with the first step. As someone who is anti GMO and pro organics I want everything to be GMO free. 🙂 And, this step forward is wonderful and should be celebrated! I hope they continue with this positive change and go completely gmo free and organic.
And, I’ll be picking up a box of GMO free cheerios for my nephew to show I value this change.
*We have corn allergies so we can’t eat cheerios but my nephew loves them.:)
~Honey
Great news. We will be buying Cheerios again. Thank you, General Mills for listening to your customers. Let’s hope other food organizations follow your lead. We don’t want GMO food and refuse to purchase it.
Yay for General Mills and Bookieboo! I don’t buy Cheerios very often, but the yellow box is the only flavor I would be interested in. Once a big food company makes a change like this, other companies are sure to follow. It’s a win-win for everyone!
A HUGE step in the right direction, General Mills! Thanks for taking a serious issue seriously . . . but now, of course, I’m hungry for more . . . why not all the brands? You’re at the forefront, why not step up and be a *shining* example of mega-corporate recognition of the importance of non-GMO foods for our families? While we used to buy the big yellow box weekly, now that my daughter’s older, she’s a big fan of Honey Nut Cheerios, which I limit because of the GMO issue. I, and so many other mothers would love to freely purchase the rest of the product line!
Thank you Cheerios for taking this step in the right direction!
I see a lot of people saying that they want more to be non GMO. I do too, but I am smiling and celebrating this small victory.
Why? It’s one step toward our goal. Just like with out fitness goals, non GMO and/or GMO labeling will not happen overnight.
Cheerios and General Mills are big dogs in the food industry. This is amazing news!
I think it’s fantastic, and baby steps are better than no steps. We still can’t eat them because they’re not gluten free, but I admire them.
It’s a nice step forward and it would be great to see if across the board with their cereals. We still don’t purchase it because it is not organic, but I appreciate the effort.
Becky that’s how we are. I want them to have an organic option for people as well.
Yay to Cheerios for making a step in the right direction! Hopefully other companies will follow suit!
Thank you for listening to all of us Cheerios! Having loved Cheerios, we stopped eating them a bit ago because of the GMO factor. Having loved their progressive nature for family and providing cereals for kids to easily “snack on”, it feels good knowing we will be eating them again. Thank you in advance for leading the other brands towards being GMO free too.
Cheerios will not be brought back in my house!
Cheerios has always been a part of my life as my mom has always trusted this brand. I am so thankful that I can now go BACK to Cheerios and trust this brand to offer GMO-free products for my own children. 🙂 Thank you, Cheerios! Can’t wait to see what other items in your line that you take in the same direction.
I would love to see all of their products GMO free, but this is a HUGE step in the right direction!
Good deal Cheerios but I WANT MORE! If you know GMO’s are bad enough to remove from one product then remove it from them all!
Preach it Sista!
I’m happy they did it. But I would like to see them do it do it to all the Cherrios brands. We like them all.
Agreed Debbie
As a mother who fed all 4 of her children Cheerios it was a go to snack for the young ones. Thank you.. It has been many years since we enjoyed them. My 8 year old will be excited we haven’t found a good replacement. Thank you Cheerios
Thank you Cheerios for making mine and my kids favorite snack and breakfast GMO free!
I know that companies will need to go GMO Free eventually to retain some sort of market share as time goes on but it is still a good feeling knowing that Cheerios did this now. Thank you for respecting your customers Cheerios.
Yes, agreed. Companies will need to reformulate to inherit the bump in sales they desire. We are asking them to make an investment on us for us to make an investment in them.