NRI Pulse Staff Report
Cover photo: Screenshot from a Yoplait commercial.
Atlanta, GA, March 8, 2024: Does Yoplait yogurt contain beef? Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism is asking for the resignation of General Mills CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening with an official apology from the company for non-disclosure of beef in its Yoplait yogurts, and their immediate recall from the market.
In a statement in Nevada today, Zed said, “it was shocking for Hindus to learn that popular Yoplait yogurts, which they had been eating for years, contained beef; while beef was not explicitly mentioned under the ingredients listed on the Yoplait packages/boxes.”
Zed said Yoplait yogurts contained gelatin, but their source was not mentioned on the packages/boxes.
When Zed contacted General Mills, its consumer care department responded: “The source of Gelatin in all Yoplait Yogurt Products is beef.”
“Consumption of beef is highly conflicting to Hindu beliefs. Cow, the seat of many deities, is sacred and has long been venerated in Hinduism,” Zed said.
“General Mills, which claims to be an “innovative company that stands for good”, should not be in the business of hurting the sentiments of trusting consumers and communities and contradicting its own statement “Do the Right Thing, All the Time”, Zed noted.
“Now was the time for General Mills to admit their serious error of not being transparent enough to mention in clear and simple terms what was inside the package/box so that an ordinary consumer could make right and appropriate choices,” Zed said.
“Moreover, in the future, General Mills should explicitly list beef in the ingredients on the package/box when beef was present in the product,” Zed added.
Besides the resignation of its CEO and an official apology; Zed urged General Mills to recall all Yoplait packages/boxes containing gelatin where the source of gelatin was not clearly mentioned.
General Mills, headquartered in Minneapolis and founded in 1866, generated fiscal 2023 net sales of US$20.1 billion. It won the award “America’s Most Responsible Companies, Newsweek 2022 and 2023”, and claims: “we make food with passion that brings goodness to people, communities and the planet”.
Yoplait was officially launched in 1965 in Paris. In 1971, it reached the USA and Canada. General Mills acquired a majority stake in Yoplait in July 2011.
