Original Cheerios to go GMO-free

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NEW YORK (AP) — General Mills says some Cheerios made
without genetically modified ingredients will start appearing on shelves
soon.
The Minneapolis-based company said Thursday that it has
been manufacturing its original-flavor Cheerios without GMOs for the
past several weeks in response to consumer demand. It did not specify
exactly when those boxes would be on sale.
Original Cheerios will
now be labeled as "Not Made With Genetically Modified Ingredients,"
although that it is not an official certification. The labels will also
note that trace amounts of GMO ingredients could be present due to the
manufacturing process, said Mike Siemienas, a company spokesman.
The change does not apply to any other Cheerios flavors, such as Apple Cinnamon Cheerios or Multi Grain
Cheerios.
"We
were able to do this with original Cheerios because the main
ingredients are oats," said Siemienas, noting that there are no
genetically modified oats. The company is primarily switching the
cornstarch and sugar to make the original Cheerios free of GMOs, he
said.
The change comes after the group Green America started a
campaign called GMO Inside asking General Mills to make Cheerios
GMO-free. The group noted in a statement that its campaign prompted fans
to flood the Cheerios page on Facebook with comments on the topic.
Todd
Larsen, Green America’s corporate responsibility director, said in a
statement that the move is "an important victory in getting GMOs out of
our food supply and an important first step for General Mills."
As
for other varieties of Cheerios, Siemienas said they are harder to make
GMO-free because they are made with ingredients such as corn.
There
has been little scientific evidence showing that foods grown from
engineered ingredients are less safe than their conventional
counterparts. But consumers have expressed concerns about the long-term
impact they could have.
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