By Jesse Newman
Cereal giant General Mills is the next target of food activists who are pushing companies to remove artificial ingredients from their products.
Vani Hari, known as the Food Babe, has for years called on Kellogg to remove artificial food dyes from cereals like Froot Loops and Apple Jacks. Hari's efforts have picked up steam in recent months, winning backing from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is in line to become the nation's top health official and has blasted companies like Kellogg for using the dyes.
Now Hari is training her sights on Trix. Last week she wrote to General Mills, urging the company to remove artificial dyes and BHT, a preservative, from its cereals.
Trix sold at grocery stores in the U.S. are made with Red 40, Yellow 6 and Blue 1. Other General Mills brands like Lucky Charms, some Monster cereals and seasonal Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer cereal also use artificial colors. Cinnamon Toast Crunch is made with BHT.
Different versions of some cereals are sold overseas. For instance, Trix sold in Australia by Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture between Nestlé and General Mills, doesn't contain artificial dyes.
"If General Mills has already found a way to make their cereals without artificial food dyes and BHT to sell in other countries, why should American children continue to be exposed to them unnecessarily," Hari wrote in the letter.
A General Mills spokeswoman said food safety is the company's top priority, and that its cereals comply with state and federal standards. "Because this is always an evolving space, we work in close partnership with policymakers," she said.
Shares of big food companies have been under pressure since President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate Kennedy as health and human services secretary, where he has promised to enact sweeping changes to food-and-drug regulation.
An S&P subindex of packaged-food and meat company stocks has fallen more than 8% over the past month, while the broader S&P 500 is up slightly.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 19, 2024 10:43 ET (15:43 GMT)
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