What happened
Cream of Wheat packaging long showed a smiling Black chef with a bowl of cereal. Associated Press reported in June 2020 that B&G Foods began an immediate packaging review, saying it understood concerns about the chef image and would act so its brands did not inadvertently contribute to systemic racism. The company’s Business Wire statement the same day matched that frame.
In late September 2020 The New York Times reported B&G would remove the chef after more than a century on the box. ABC News quoted the company: research indicated the image may have been based on Chicago chef Frank White, but it reminded some consumers of earlier depictions they find offensive, so the image would come off all packaging. Those are company statements after stereotype criticism, not a trial verdict.
The Cookout read
Mixed. A Black-chef cereal face that consumers tied to Jim Crow-era advertising tropes is why this file exists; removing it in 2020 is a dated company act. Any culinary-school scholarship language is a company pledge unless independently audited here.