For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s All About Organics page, and our The Myth of Natural page.

How natural are Kashi natural cereals?

A shelf tag explains to customers why the Green Grocer natural and organic food store in Portsmouth, R.I., no longer carries Kashi cereals.

Kellogg is facing anger on social-media sites because of complaints that its popular Kashi brand of cold cereals doesn’t live up to the company’s “natural” billing on ads and boxes.

The controversy went viral a week ago after a Rhode Island grocer tacked a note to one of his store shelves, telling customers he wouldn’t sell the cereal because he found out the brand used genetically engineered, non-organic ingredients. Photos of the note began popping up on Facebook pages and food blogs as some consumers claimed Kellogg was misrepresenting its cereal.

The soy in Kashi cereals comes from soybeans that have had a gene inserted to protect the soybeans from the herbicide Roundup, which kills weeds.