THE POLITICS OF CEREAL: WHEN SUGAR ISN'T SWEET

By JEFFREY H. BIRNBAUM/WASHINGTON

If you hunger to know what life would be like if the Republican revolution succeeds, here is a tangible example: small children would eat more Raisin Bran and less Cheerios, at least in Michigan. Of course, the libertarian Republicans would not insist. Their "Contract with America" would simply hand the choice to the states, where, they say, it belongs. But to the maker of Cheerios, the provision that passed the House last week is nothing less than a cereal killer.

The G.O.P. welfare bill would convert the federal program that feeds needy women, infants and children into a bloc grant and give individual states the right to decide the program's nutritional guidelines. That means current restrictions on the sugar content in cereal, which allow the purchase of dowdy old Cheerios but not the more sugary Raisin Bran, would become a thing of the past. As a result, says Joseph Stewart, a senior vice president of Raisin Bran's maker, Kellogg, "Raisin Bran could no longer be denied the opportunity to participate in this program."

There are big bucks at stake. At last count, WIC (Women, Infants, Children) participants were buying $285 million worth of dry cereal a year. Cheerios is WIC's No. 1 cereal, and in 1985 it was reformulated with more iron, specifically so that it could qualify for the program. So General Mills Inc., Cheerios' manufacturer, is preparing for a fight in Congress to save its sales. Says Craig Shulstad, of General Mills: "If the program is turned over to the states, the nutritional criteria could be abolished or watered down, and the integrity of the program could be lost.''

Kellogg's lobbyists argue that Raisin Bran doesn't have too much added sugar. Rather, it is sweeter because of sugar that occurs naturally in dried fruit. Dried fruit, they add, is very nutritious. Kellogg even joined forces with Sun-Maid, the California raisin producer, to press for an end to the sugar limit. The debate got so intense that at one meeting in 1991 Agriculture Secretary Edward Madigan and Kellogg chairman Arnold Langbo started shouting and pounding the table. (Kellogg denies the meeting got that heated.)

That was before the revolution. Now one state says it will be open to adding Raisin Bran to its WIC menu: Michigan, where Kellogg has its corporate home, in Battle Creek. "We do support this move overwhelmingly," said John Truscott, a state spokesman. "We would absolutely allow Raisin Bran."

--By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum/Washington