ST. LOUIS — A few weeks after news came that General Mills, Inc. made changes in sourcing and handling of ingredients to make original Cheerios free of bioengineered ingredients, another ready-to-eat cereal company has entered the fray. Post Foods L.L.C., St. Louis, has revealed changes to its popular Grape-Nuts brand that allow the cereal to be marketed as non-G.M.O.
Post last year reformulated its Grape-Nuts brand, adding isolated soy protein, which boosted the amount of protein per serving to 8 grams from 6 grams. A majority of the soybeans grown in the United States are bioengineered. Around that time, the company began offering Grape-Nuts Vintage, which contains whole grain wheat flour, malted barley flour, salt and dried yeast — and no soy protein. With its latest announcement, Post said its Grape-Nuts Original is now non-G.M.O., though the company declined to disclose what, if any, changes have been made to the ingredient makeup of the product.
“Grape-Nuts Original has been verified as non-G.M.O.,” said Mangala D’Sa, brand director for Grape-Nuts. “Grape-Nuts Original still contains the signature crunch, ingredients and 49 grams of whole grains known and loved for more than a century. We’ve confirmed our recipe and suppliers do not contain G.M.O. ingredients, and the Non-G.M.O. Project seal will appear on boxes of Grape-Nuts Original on store shelves.”
Post also said it is exploring some of its other cereals to see if there is potential going forward to add more non-G.M.O. verified products to the Post Foods product line.
Post’s move comes just a few weeks after General Mills released non-G.M.O. original Cheerios in early January, though Cheerios is not third-party verified. Another R.-T.-E. cereal company, Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, Mich., has stated its intention to make all existing Kashi GoLean cereals Non-G.M.O. Project Verified by the end of 2014.
“GMO Inside thanks Post for removing G.M.O.s from Grape-Nuts Original and congratulates them for doing it right with third party verification,” said Nicole McCann, campaign director for Green America GMO Inside. “We’re glad Post is also considering removing G.M.O.s from other cereals and look forward to seeing them on the shelves. We would also love to see Post supporting mandatory G.M.O. labeling.”