General Mills Slashes Sugar in Kids' Cereals

Cut affects Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, 8 other breakfast treats
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 10, 2009 10:06 AM CST
General Mills Slashes Sugar in Kids' Cereals
Some varieties of Cheerios will also be affected by the cuts.   (AP Photo)

General Mills is bowing to consumer pressure and cutting the amount of sugar in all of its cereals aimed at children, the third time in three years the food giant has taken its sweet breakfast treats down a notch. The goal this time is bring the amount of sugar per serving below 10 grams for all cereals advertised to kids under 12. That does not include products like Chocolate Lucky Charms, which goes unadvertised—and is almost half sugar.

The new initiative comes as the company has almost completed the previous cut, down to 11g per serving. The affected cereals run the gamut from Cocoa Puffs (now 11g) to Honey Nut Cheerios (already at 9g), and the cuts will range from 10% to 30%. “We've listened to our consumers,” a spokeswoman tells the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “and some would prefer to see even lower levels of sugar.” The company is mum on how it will maintain taste but says it won't use artificial sweeteners. (More General Mills stories.)

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