General Mills, the Minneapolis-based company that makes the legendary breakfast cereal, announced the change late Thursday, saying it will use cornstarch and sugar that are not genetically modified when producing the cereal. Offshoots of the Cheerios brand, such as Honey Nut Cheerios, are not affected by the change. Nor are any other General Mills cereals.
The move is "of huge importance,” says Ken Albala, a food historian at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. “General Mills is finally realizing that, whichever the way the trend goes, they’re going to follow it." He predicts that "an avalanche" of food companies will follow the General Mills lead.
