Benefit

by General Mills

1989 – 1990 GONE FOREVER

Gone. General Mills dropped Benefit in January 1990 after eight months of test marketing in 28 percent of the country, calling it "strictly a business decision." The $25 million ad campaign planned for a national launch never ran.

Last verified Nov 4, 2026

A high-fiber General Mills cereal built on psyllium, the fiber in Metamucil, and sold on a cholesterol promise. Metamucil's maker asked the FDA to pull it, and shoppers finished the job.

🧾 One more thingProcter & Gamble argued the cereal was making a claim Metamucil itself wasn't allowed to make. General Mills answered that it was plainly food: "It's packaged like a cereal, it looks like a cereal, and it's sold like a cereal."

Filed under: Cereal · the ’80s

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📅 Timeline

1989General Mills began rolling out Benefit in May.
1989Procter & Gamble asked the FDA in June to take it off the market.
1989The FDA sent warning letters to General Mills and Kellogg's on September 29 over health claims.
1990General Mills said in early January that it was dropping the cereal.

❓ People also ask

Why was Benefit cereal discontinued?

Disappointing sales in test markets. A spokesman said it appealed to a much narrower group than expected and denied the FDA dispute was the reason.

What was in Benefit cereal?

It was a high-fiber cereal containing psyllium. An analyst told UPI that shoppers didn't want to feel they were at the medicine shelf.

Did Benefit ever go national?

No. It only reached test markets covering about 28 percent of the country.

🧾 Sources

UPI, General Mills dropping Benefit cereal (1990)
Time, Consumer Products: Is It a Drug or a Cereal? (1989)
Pink Sheet, Psyllium food additive or GRAS petitions for Benefit, Heartwise (1989)

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