Strawberries, cherries and an angel’s kiss in spring, my Cinnamon Toast Crunch isn’t made from all these things

 

Photos by Retiring Guy

If we can believe the packaging, General Mills uses vegetable juice and caramel color in Cinnamon Toast Crunch Strawberry.

New York Times, 6/20/2025

General Mills is dropping artificial colors and flavors from its cereals, the latest company to respond to a growing desire for food made with ingredients people see as natural. The company said on Monday that Trix and Reese’s Puffs will be among the first cereals to undergo the changes.

Cinnamon Toast must be among the first choices.

On the other hand, Post Consumer Brands hasn't jumped on the no-dye bandwagon yet.

They're still using a rainbow assortment of dyes.

For your listening pleasure

Other cereal aisle posts:

2025

Turn breakfast into a campfire experience with Lucky Charms s'mores.  (6/20)

This week in the cereal aisle, one of the least healthy places in town.  (5/26)

Ultraprocessed donuts, candy, and chocolate.  (3/17) 

KitKat gives you a break in your cereal bowl.  (2/12)

2024

Pumpkin spice season.  (10/7)

Halloween sugar danger for kids.  (10/4

It's a cookies and candy fest.  (9/12)

Kellogg's Crumbl.  (8/29) 

Ultraprocessed paradise.  (5/19)

Wheaties features the Watt brothers.  (4/13)

2023

Celebrate Christmas with Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch cereal.  (11/27)

Countdown to Chexmas.  (11/16)

Cheerios wins the shelf display against Lucky Charms.  (11/3)

Lucky Charms gets a limited edition Halloween makeover.  (10/27)

Fall flavors.  (10/25)

Kellogg's Fruit Loops partners with Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  (9/7)

31st variety of Cheerios, special edition Lemon Frosted. (8/29)

New shape!  Fruity flavor!  Kellogg's Rainbow Krispies!  (8/24)

Movietime!  (7/24)

And here you thought it was just Hollywood suffering from a lack of originality.  (7/14)

General Mills IHOP Mini Pancake cereal.  (7/13)

Kellogg's Rice Krispies red and blue color mix. (6/13)

Kellogg's Froot Loops Mega MixUps.  (6/9)

Kellogg's Rice Krispies blue and green color mix.  (4/23)

Sugar-loaded cereal bars elbow their way to prominence.  (3/27)

A big dose of sugar for Easter.  (3/25)

Get your recommended daily allowance of synthetic dye.  (2/2)

Kix just keep gettin' harder to find. Again. Two years later.  (1/7)

Kellogg’s Tiger Paws Jumbo Snax.  (1/2)

2022

General MIlls limited edition dessert fest.  (11/30)

Kellogg's Family Size Cosmic Brownies.  (11/6)

Hocus Pocus 2.  (10/17)

General Mills Limited Edition L.O.L. Surprise Birthday Cake Cereal.  (10/12)

Kellogg's shocking orange Halloween Rice Krispies.  (8/24)

And after a few minutes in milk, it looks like a bowl of barf.  (7/15)
Retiring Guy arrives late to Cheerios 80th birthday party.  (7/13)
Wheaties 100 Years of Champions limited edition collector series.  (4/27)

Living dangerously.  (4/19)

2021

Give your kids a sugar buzz with a new Elf on the Shelf tradition.  (11/26)

Limited Edition Kellogg's Frosted Flakes Apple Jacks Mashup,  (10/3)

Fall is here and so are limited edition pumpkin spice choices.  (9/28)

Kellogg;s adds another variety to the Frosted Flakes brand.  (7/12)
Team Cheerios.  (7/9)

Remembering the Apple Jacks bullies jingle.  (6/1)

Kellogg's shamelessly promotes major breakfast sugar buzz.  (5/19)

Kelloggs Crayola gets the puff piece treatment @ BestProducts.  (4/5)
Grape Nuts.  (2/22)
Kix just keep getting harder to find.  (1/23 update)
Cheez-It horns in.  (1/10)

2019
This box wants to party with you.  (6/4)
Blueberry Cheerios.  (5/16)
Snap, crackle and redpop.  (2/26)
Kellogg's Honey Oat Frosted Flakes.  (2/19)
Kellogg's All Bran fights for shelf space.  (1/22)
 
2018
Cheerios adds to its long list of flavors. (12/31)
General Mills offers two flavors of Dippin' Dots.  (11/28)
Kellogg's vanilla latte Frosted Mini-Wheats.  (10/1)
Nutter Butter.  (6/24)
Still a little bit of shelf space provided for boxes of Big Biscuit Shredded Wheat.  (4/3)
Chocolate Frosted Flakes.  (3/30)
It's just peachy, part 2 (with probiotics).  (3/26)
It's just peachy (Cheerios).  (3/25)
Snap, Crackle and Pop shrug off competition from Fancy Friends Cereal Treats.  (2/23)
Lucky Charms wants you to have a daily dose of yellow 5 and blue 1.  (3/9)
The takeover of Mom.  (3/1)
Hoopla over rainbow marshmallows added to Lucky Charms.  (2/22)
Kellogg's Donut Shop in your choice of flavors.  (2/14)
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the shredded wheat go down.  (2/6)
General Mills offers yet another flavor of Cheerios -- chocolate and peanut butter.  (1/30)
I suspect this special edition Cocoa Puffs isn't exactly flying off the shelves.  (1/16)
What's really going on with this General Mills blend.  (1/10)
Giant size bargains to kick off the new year.  (1/3)

2017
Satisfy your craving for chocolate.  (12/22)
Pumpkin Spice runs amok.  (11/7)
Danger lurks.  (11/2)
Dan G. wets himself over Special K Blueberry with Lemon Clusters.  (9/20)
Limited Edition Mocha Crunch.  (7/16)
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes with Marshmallows.  (2/1)
A marriage between General Mills and Girls Scouts of America.  (1/19)

2016
Alpha-Bits is getting squeezed out.  (11/23)
Special K continues to branch out.  (10/23)
Wedding bells chime.  (10/5)
The price of convenience (22.54 cents per ounce).  (8/19)
Make up your mind already!  (8/14)
Remember Nabisco Shredded Wheat?  (7/13)
Features Batman and Superman.  (7/7)
Post wants you to have ice cream for breakfast.  (6/30)

Tiny Toast.  (6/21)

2015
Fewer of us are starting the day with a breakfast "hoop-de-do"!  (2/13)

2014
Kellogg's wants you to put out the box at bedtime.  (12/20)
Decline in cereal sales bite into Kellogg's results.  (Fortune, 10/30)
Americans aren't eating their Wheaties.  (CNN Money, 9/18)
Cereals Begin to Lose Their Snap, Crackle, and Pop.  (The New York Times, 9/10)
Why Don't Americans Like Breakfast Cereal Anymore? The once-loved product whose sales went soggy.  (Adweek, 8/14)
I imagine General Mills has done the research, but what if this is the case?  (7/1)
Maybe it's the rainbow colors.  (7/1)
They still call it 'breakfast cereal'.  (2/14)

2013
Cereal killers:  Americans' new breakfast habits.  (CNBC, 8/2)