Cheerios drops genetically modified ingredients

USA Today – Bruce Horovitz

Under pressure from consumers and activist groups, General Mills says it will stop using genetically modified ingredients to make its original Cheerios cereal.

While the oats used to make Cheerios have never contained any genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the company did make changes to its sourcing — and now, for example, only uses non-GMO pure cane sugar instead of beet sugar, says spokesman Mike Siemienas.

The change was made “many weeks” ago, says Siemienas, who declined to be more specific on the timing. “We do value our Cheerios fans and we do listen to their thoughts and suggestions,” he says, in an e-mail.

Some consumers have health and environmental concerns over the use of GMOs, though there is little scientific proof that products made with GMOs are less safe. The move is being hailed by anti-GMO activist groups as a major victory. It comes at a time activists have been increasingly pressuring American food makers to remove GMOs from all foods — or, at the very least, label all foods that do contain GMOs.

Last year, Whole Foods became the first national grocery chain to require all of its suppliers to label all products that contain GMOs by 2018. In the past year, Chipotle announced plans to phase out GMOs and Kashi is also is taking action to phase out GMOs.