Several iterations of Cheerios — General Mills Inc.'s staple cereal line — will go gluten-free.
Gluten-free foods have become all the rage in recent years. You may ask, however, aren't Cheerios made of oats, which are naturally gluten-free?
Well, there's a small amount of wheat, rye and barley in the oats supplied to General Mills, gluten-bearing grains inadvertently introduced at the farm or in transit to the mill, the company said.
Golden Valley-based General Mills says it has developed a way — "years in the making" — to sort the errant grains from the oats.
The five types of Cheerios that will be gluten-free beginning in July are: Honey Nut, Multi-Grain, Apple Cinnamon, Frosted and the original yellow-box version. Only Multi-Grain Cheerios will be reformulated, with wheat and barley replaced by sorghum and millet.
General Mills markets its Chex cereals — sans Wheat Chex — as gluten-free, and it has turned Chex into one of its bestselling cereals.
People who suffer from celiac disease can't eat gluten, while others with celiac-like digestive symptoms also stay away from it. But gluten-free diets have also become popular with people who believe they they'll lose weight or be healthier.
Proof is short for that. Still, food companies have gone to great lengths promoting gluten-free foods, to the point of trumpeting a lack of gluten in products even when they lacked gluten from the get-go.
