Original Cheerios will be remade to ensure that they no longer contain genetically modified ingredients, FOX News reports.
General Mills, the creators of the cereal Cheerios confirms that some of their products made without these ingredients will be made available in various stores very soon. The company confirmed that they have been manufacturing its original-flavor Cheerios for the past several weeks without GMO's in response to consumer demand. However, the company was unable to provide a concrete date as to when the re-made products will be made available.
Upon availability, Original Cheerios will now be labeled with the statement: "Not Made With Genetically Modified Ingredients". The labels will also note that trace amounts of GMO ingredients may still be present due to the manufacturing process, company spokesman, Mike Siemienas said. However, this big change will not apply to other Cheerios flavors, specifically Apple Cinnamon Cheerios or Multi Grain Cheerios.
"We were able to do this with original Cheerios because the main ingredients are oats," said Siemienas. He notes that there is no such thing as genetically modified oats. What the company is doing is they are primarily switching the cornstarch and sugar to make the original Cheerios free from GMOs. This change was borne out Green America's campaign called GMO Inside asking General Mills to make Cheerios GMO-free. Fans of the campaign flooded the Cheerios campaign page on Facebook with endless comments about the topic.
Todd Larsen, Green America's corporate responsibility director said that the move is "an important victory in getting GMOs out of our food supply and an important first step for General Mills." Other Cheerios variants may be more difficult to free from GMOs because they are made with ingredients like corn, Siemienas said.
