[Ngo-sanrm] Leading children's cereal in America drops GMO ingredients

Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Working Group ngo-sanrm at ngocentre.org.vn
Fri Jan 3 16:50:41 GMT 2014


Cheerios drops genetically modified ingredients
Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
<http://www.usatoday.com/staff/688/bruce-horovitz>7:59
p.m. EST January 2, 2014

[image: AP Earns General Mills]

(Photo: Danny Johnston, AP)

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.

But General Mills has no plans to phase out GMOs from its other cereals in
the U.S, even though most Cheerios varieties sold in Europe are made
without GMOs. "For our other (non-organic) cereals, the widespread use of
GM seed in crops such as corn, soy, or beet sugar would make reliably
moving to non-GM ingredients difficult, if not impossible," says the
company, in a statement.

Even then, the latest action by Cheerios maker General Mills could nudge
other big food makers to follow.

"This is a big deal," says Todd Larsen, corporate responsibility director
at Green America, a green economy activist group. "Cheerios is an iconic
brand and one of the leading breakfast cereals in the U.S." What's more, he
adds, "We don't know of any other example of such a major brand of packaged
food, eaten by so many Americans, going from being GMO to non-GMO. "

One year ago, the group used social media efforts to rally consumers to
pressure General Mills to make Cheerios without GMOs. Cheerios was picked,
in part, because it's one of the first foods given to many toddlers.

As for the taste of Cheerios, well, that won't change, says Siemienas.
"Cheerios remains the same great-tasting, wholesomely good cereal that's
been a family favorite for years."

*====================================*


*CHUCK SEARCY International Advisor, Project RENEW*







*Vice President, Veterans for Peace Chapter 160 (Hoa Binh) 71 Tran Quoc
Toan, Hanoi, Vietnam Tel:           +844 6684 2622  Mobile:     +849 0342
0769  Skype:       chucksearcy Email:        chuckusvn at gmail.com
<chucksearcy at yahoo.com> Web:         www.landmines.org.vn
<http://www.landmines.org.vn> *

*Web:         www.veteransforpeace.org <http://www.veteransforpeace.org>*

*Web:         vfp-vn.ning.com <http://vfp-vn.ning.com/>*


*Blog:         chucksearcy
<http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1159007311032373013#allposts>
<chucksearcy at yahoo.com>=====================================*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://ngocentre.org.vn/pipermail/ngo-sanrm/attachments/20140103/615c4256/attachment-0009.html 


More information about the Ngo-sanrm mailing list