December 18/Minneapolis/Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal -- General Mills Inc. said it is launching more than 50 new U.S. retail products over the next six months, which is an addition to the 100 U.S. retail products launched over the past six months. General Mills launched 100 U.S. retail products in fiscal 2013.

A good slice of the new products are in the snack category, with new items like Baked Sweet Potato Fries under the Green Giant label, Fiber One meal bars and Nature Valley Breakfast Biscuits.

The company also unveiled five new cereals, including Chocolate Toast Crunch (a variation on Cinnamon Toast Crunch) and Dark Chocolate Crunch Multi Grain Cheerios.

"It's not just quantity, it's quality that matters, and we think we have a strong lineup of product innovation that will contribute to good growth for U.S. retail in 2014," chief operating officer Ian Friendly said on an earnings call .

Friendly said many of this year's new products had strong starts. "Those products that were launched will carry over. They were of a stronger character than the prior year," he said.