General Mills, the famous cereal manufacturer that has brought us such contemporary classics as Cookie Crisp, Cocoa Puffs, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch (just to name a few) as recently announced a plan to once again reduce the sugar content of these and more children’s cereals.
A plan that began several years ago outlined the goal of reducing the sugar content in 10 of its children cereals to 11 grams or less per serving. They say the pressure is being felt by consumers, health experts and federal regulators in regards to the nutritional content of these cereals that are marketed towards children. I think someone forgot to tell them, that the sugar is what actually makes the cereal good! Ever had Cheerio’s before? It is the lightly sweetened version of the much more popular, Honey Nut Cheerio’s.
Mom made the mistake of bringing home Cheerio’s from the grocery store a time or two growing up. Let me be the first to tell you, my brothers and I were not happy about it. It was Honey Nut Cheerio’s or bust! My grandfather ate regular Cheerio’s, but for us youngsters with a voracious appetite for anything that would make us bounce off the walls and push us to go outside and play for the entire afternoon when school let out, it had to be the good stuff. Either that or we dumped sugar on top of our regular Cheerio’s if it was indeed a cereal emergency.
General Mills has already caved into federal, and health expert pressure before. About 10 years ago they announced that all their cereals would be made with made with ‘whole grain’ wheat from here on out. The health of today’s youth is nothing to be laughed about, but darn it, taking away my Cookie Crisp as we all know it is like taking a little piece of childhood away from all of us.
