Cheerios aren’t safe. But the CDF still takes money from them.

A 3-part tragedy.

Part 1: I, along with other supposed celiac advocates, are invited in 2015 to General Mills headquarters in Minnesota to see how they will theoretically make their Cheerios gluten-free and celiac safe.

The CEO of the Celiac Disease Foundation posts a picture of herself with a giant box of Cheerios, asking ‘which flavor are you most excited about?’. At this point, we have no idea of their process and she is already promoting them. Odd.

Part 2: The three days in Minnesota sucked and I had no idea whether they’d be safe or not. When they finally came out, the Celiac Disease Foundation logo is on every single box. Why? Because GM paid them, I assume, a shit ton of money.

Soon after, people are getting sick on the new Cheerios, and there is a huge recall because….yep…there was gluten in the gluten-free Cheerios.

Part 3: Eleven years later and the CDF is still on the Cheerios boxes, and GM and Cheerios are still two of their biggest sponsors.
2024 revenue for the CDF is almost $5 million. CEO salary is almost 10% of that.

This whole thing stinks. But it’s become par for the course for advocacy groups and influencers. Money first. F**k the community.