Nature Valley granola bars lose ‘100% Natural’ label

Nature Valley granola bars will  lose the 100 percent natural label after parent company General Mills settled a recent lawsuit after it was found that the oats used contained a small amount of a cancer-linked pesticide.

Credit: Bob Berg/Getty Images

Credit: Bob Berg/Getty Images

Nature Valley granola bars will lose the 100 percent natural label after parent company General Mills settled a recent lawsuit after it was found that the oats used contained a small amount of a cancer-linked pesticide.

General Mills is making a change to its Nature Valley granola bars. It is dropping the label that claims the snack bar is 100 percent natural, USA Today reported.

The label edit is being made because the company recently settled a 2016 lawsuit that said that oats used in the bars contained a pesticide.

The chemical in question is glyphostate and it's a weed killer ingredient that has been connected to cancer, USA Today reported.

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The complaint said that tests by an independent lab found .45 parts per million glyphosate in the Nature Valley products. It is well within the Environmental Protection Agency standards of 30 parts per million in grains, USA Today reported.

Despite the low readings, the complaint by three consumer groups, The Organic Consumers Association, Moms Across America and Beyond Pesticides, said, "No reasonable consumer, seeing these representations, would expect that the oats or any ingredients in the Products to contain something that is unnatural."

General Mills spokesman, Mike Siemienas, said the company settled instead of going through "the cost and distraction of litigation." Instead the company will now focus on making sure products have 100 percent whole grain oats, USA Today reported.

The granola bars are not the only product that has come under fire for glyphosate.

Recently other cereals, granola bars and instant oats brands were found to have dangerous amounts of the chemical, CNN reported.

Glyphosate is the main component in Roundup. The herbicide is made by Monsanto. That company was recently ordered to pay a man diagnosed with terminal cancer after using the herbicide. He was awarded nearly $300 million, CNN reported. The company said it will appeal, USA Today reported.

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