Non-GMO Cheerios for Breakfast, Anyone?

2014 has blown into Chicago on an Arctic front, bringing with it -17 F / -27 C on Monday and Tuesday’s forecast is to be only a little warmer. Just have to say it - Brrrrrrr! It’s absolutely bitter outside.

Despite the 8-10 inches of snow we have on the ground, there are lots of concerns about how these temps will impact the winter wheat crop. We’ll have to wait and watch - when and if Mother Nature ever allows us to thaw out.

A few days ago General Mills VP Tom Forsythe wrote that Original Cheerios is going GMO-free. Since there are no GM oats, there was no change to the key ingredient. The change came from the corn starch that will now only come from non-GMO corn and sugar that is now non-GMO pure cane sugar.

Forsythe says the decision was not about safety. “Biotech seeds … have been approved by global food safety agencies and widely used by farmers in global food crops for almost 20 years.”

While Forsythe says it was never about pressure, GMO Inside, an anti-GMO campaign organized by members of Green America, encouraged consumers to post messages on Cheerios’ Facebook page calling for the cereal to be GMO free. The campaign is said to have received more than 40,000 posts.

And there’s more… GMO Inside called on consumers to email and call General Mills about getting GMOs out of Cheerios. GMO Inside released a Cheerios video and a report “Deception at General Mills: The Real CSR Report”.

All of that sounds like a lot of pressure to me.

Forsythe said, “It’s simple. We did it because we think consumers may embrace it.”

So… the question is: was General Mills bullied into this or are they really trying to offer consumers a non-GMO option?

Have a great week – stay warm!

Sarah