Cheez-Its are a quintessential American snack and happen to be a great many people's favorite snack. Any list you look up of the greatest snacks in America will almost always reflect this fact. Although only 4% (still a significant number) of all American consumers are 100% gluten free for medical reasons, 30% of American avoid gluten for many different reasons. Although the impact of gluten on someones health who is not intolerant is not entirely known almost 1/3 of U.S. still make the decision to avoid it. The market for gluten-free products was valued at $5.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.8% from 2022 to 2030. By being one of America's favorite snacks, making a gluten-free version of Cheez-it's would surely swallow up a sizable portion of that market with little to no marketing expenditure necessary.

Growing up I was an extremely picky eater and there were not many foods or snacks that I could try without getting nauseous. Some of the foods I did eat were bread, plain pasta, peanut butter, and Cheez-Its. This made finding out that I had a gluten allergy very difficult. For many years I have had to go on suffering without Cheez-Its for the foreseeable future.

Although gluten free products from big companies such as pasta, bread, and even Oreo's have reached a point where they are almost indistinguishable from the real product, the attempts made by many companies such as Simple Mills, Schar, From the Ground Up, and Lance to produce a gluten-free knock off of Cheez-Its are so below par that they are not worth ingesting. The market for gluten free Cheez-its is so large that companies are willing to spend lots of money just to have an inferior product attempting to mimic the Kellogg brand's incredible snack.

 I have now been gluten free for about 10 years and the most grueling part of this affliction is the fact that I cannot eat Cheez-Its. It is an absolute travesty. Watching my best friends ingest these delectable orange squares without being able to partake for the last decade has been one of the hardest parts about being gluten free and I have always felt like I am missing out.

I ask of the Kellogg's corporation to lift their heads and realize that there is an entirely untapped market in gluten-free consumers. The products that currently make up the gluten free cheddar square cracker market are sub-par and it is an industry asking to be disrupted.

I ask my gluten free and non-gluten-free comrades to band together to support this cause that is so vital and near and dear to my heart. Sign the petition and lets bring light to the dark world of the gluten-intolerant.