Popular breakfast cereal maker General Mills said that it has begun manufacturing its flagship Cheerios brand cereal without genetically modified ingredients.
In a blog post Thursday, the company said that it was responding to its customers, who are increasingly against the use of generically modified organisms (GMOs) in their food.
In the blog post, General Mills said that the oats it uses as the primary ingredient in Cheerios have always been a non-GMO product, but that recent changes in its supply of corn starch and sugar will make the cereal free of GMOs.
As a result, the company will start producing the packaging on Original Cheerios boxes to read "Not Made With Genetically Modified Ingredients," according to a report by The Associated Press, which added that the label is not an official certification.
Flavors of Cheerios other than Original, such as Honey Nut or Multi Grain Cheerios, will not be affected by the change, the AP reported, quoting a company spokesman who indicated that the ingredients in other Cheerios varieties, such as corn, would make it more difficult for the company to make non-GMO.
In the Cheerios' blog post, Tom Forsythe, vice president of Global Communications for the Minneapolis-based General Mills, said the move to make Cheerios free of genetically modified ingredients was "not about safety."
"Biotech seeds, also known as genetically modified seeds, have been approved by global food safety agencies and widely used by farmers in global food crops for almost 20 years," Forsythe wrote.
"The simple and unique nature of Cheerios made this possible - and it's not much of a change at all. The product is essentially the same," he said.