CHICAGO - General Mills Inc., Golden Valley, unveiled about two dozen new products for the carb-conscious and time-pressed consumer at the Food Marketing Institute Show in Chicago on Sunday.

Making good on CEO Stephen Sanger's promise that General Mills would get better at catering to consumers' changing buying habits, the new products include pourable frosting and low-carb soup.

Analysts have attributed the company's stagnant earnings to General Mills' delayed entry into the low-carb market. The company's earnings for the third quarter ended Feb. 22 were $242 million or 63 cents a share, essentially flat compared to the previous year and short of Wall Street expectations.

General Mills' new low-carb items include: Hamburger Helper Carb Monitor Cheeseburger Macaroni; Betty Crocker Carb Monitor Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Carb Monitor Frozen Dinner Rolls.

New products designed for consumers seeking convenience include: Betty Crocker Pour & Frost pourable frosting; Slow Cooker Helper, a slow cooker meal that takes 5 minutes to prepare; and Old El Paso Stand N' Stuff Tacos, taco shells that stand on their own for easy filling.

http://twincities.bizjournals.com/t.../03/daily2.html

The food industry is scarey. I'll stick with whole foods, thank you very much.

Deb, you're not the only one who finds the thought of low carb Hamburger Helper positively frightening.

You want scary...I saw Low-Carb [4 grams] Ramen Style Soup today. Its still loaded with MSG, Salt, and Chemicals, though:

Me, too! It's obvious all these companies care about is their bottom line. If they cared more about consumers, they'd simply go out of business.

I think the scariest thing out there is low-carb pop tarts. Next in line would be low-carb twinkies and low-carb Krispy Kreme

LOL - the low-carb Krispy Kreme is on it's way - have a look at this:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/03/12/krispy.kreme.ap/


Although I was 'jealous', when I first began my woe, of the 'low carb foods' available in the US, now I'm quite happy that I don't have access to them. Fresh and natural is definitely my mantra

I’m with you on that one. At first I saw it as a huge disadvantage too but one year down the track I’m very thankful. Not having access to all these products meant I had to learn to cook and experiment and I didn’t get the opportunity to form any bad habits. I couldn’t imagine buying all that stuff now if it was available. We probably have a dozen or so ‘official’ low carb products in Australia and the only one I buy is flatbread and only very occasionally now. The products are quite good too but very expensive.

It is only a matter of time before the UK and Australia catches up but by then our healthy habits should be truly ingrained. It's the newbies I feel sorry for..........

I always found regular Hamburger Helper positively frightening.