Chex is an American brand of breakfast cereal currently manufactured by General Mills. It was originally produced and owned by Ralston Purina of St. Louis, Missouri, using the name Chex starting in 1950. The Chex brand went with corporate spinoff Ralcorp in 1994. and was then sold to General Mills in 1997. Rival cereal company Kellogg's has the rights to the Chex brand in South Korea and Singapore. The name "Chex" reflects the "checkerboard square" logo of Ralston Purina. For many years, advertisements for the cereal featured the characters from Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip. History Chex cereal traces its lineage back to Shredded Ralston, which was first produced in the late 1930s. One 1936 grocery store advertisement for the cereal described it as, "ready to eat, made from pure whole wheat . . . Cooked, shredded, and toasted to a delicious golden brown; new in flavor." Bite-sized Shredded Ralston was described in one early promotional article as whole wheat that had been "shredded and baked into crisp-bite-size biscuits." In addition to being recommended as a breakfast cereal, it was suggested as soup croutons, a snack with melted butter, and as the heart of a homemade candy flavored with honey and lemon. One of the early distinctive characteristics of Chex was its shape. When Rice Chex was introduced in 1950, one advertisement described it as, "Golden-toasted shreds of rice, crisscrossed into hollow, Bit Size waffles. Shaped just right for easy eating." In 1951, Shredded Ralston was rebranded as Wheat Chex, initially stating "We are changing the name of Shredded Ralston to Shredded Ralston Wheat Chex," but often using both the short name and the longer name within the same ad copy. Side by side photos in the early 1950s show that the shape of Wheat Chex was not yet changed to the waffle-shape of Rice Chex, retaining its denser, biscuit-like form. When Corn Chex was released in 1959, it was given the Rice Check "criss-crossed" shape, described as helping it stay crispy in milk. When Ralcorp sold the Chex Brand to General Mills, the Federal Trade Commission required General Mills to permit the production of private label (store brand) versions of Chex, including by Ralcorp itself. Flavors and varieties Rice Chex (introduced in 1950) Wheat Chex (introduced in 1951, 1936 as "Shredded Ralston") Corn Chex (introduced throughout the United States in 1959 after limited distribution in 1958) Honey Nut Chex