General Mills will lay off 850 workers globally, with roughly half the cuts coming in the Twin Cities, as it faces higher costs for the ingredients it uses in its food products and sluggish consumer demand for brands such as Cheerios, Betty Crocker and Yoplait.

It’s a trend being felt across the U.S. food industry, as rising prices for prepared supermarket food products have turned away frugal consumers in a slow economic recovery.

The Golden Valley-based food giant is undertaking a global plan to accelerate growth and innovation and plans to reinvest the savings. The cuts amount to 2.4 percent of the company’s 35,000-strong workforce, which includes 5,500 in Minnesota. The job cuts were announced Tuesday, May 22.

“They’ve got to attack the cost structure and find more efficient ways to operate,” said Jack Russo, an analyst with Edward Jones in St. Louis. “Unfortunately, this news today reflects that.”

Instead of buying General Mills products, consumers are turning to store private labels or simply not buying packaged foods.

Meanwhile, commodity, energy and other cost increases have made it more expensive for General Mills to make the foods it sells. The company has tried to push through price increases, but consumers have been saying no.

Most of the job cuts will be in administrative and support positions at corporate headquarters, said spokeswoman Kirstie Foster. “Changes will occur across the company.

“Savings will be reinvested to accelerate innovation across General Mills’ global business platform,” Foster said. “This is focused on better positioning the company for future growth.”

With sales of $14.9 billion in fiscal 2011, General Mills is facing the same headwinds other packaged-food companies in the United States face.

“They’ve raised prices on their more premium products, and higher-end food items are just not selling as well because the consumer is focused on value,” said Andy Adams, a portfolio manager for Mairs and Power in St. Paul, which holds General Mills shares.

Those trends are reflected in the food maker’s financial results.

“Slow economic recovery has kept many consumer budgets under pressure,” Ken Powell, General Mills’ chief executive, said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call in March. “Clearly, it’s been a tough year.”

Its fiscal third-quarter earnings were largely flat because of higher raw material and other costs, up 10 percent to 11 percent this year, and lower volume as consumers turned away.

Some saw it coming. In a research note in March, Credit Suisse analyst Robert Moskow questioned whether General Mills would “right-size” company headquarters. “General Mills’ headcount grew 5.9 percent per year over the past three years at a time when just about every major U.S. food company was cutting back,” he wrote. What the company needs, he said at the time, is “a dose of austerity.”

More details on the restructuring plan will be provided during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call June 27, Foster said. Employees whose jobs will be cut will be notified in the next few weeks, she said.

The company expects the restructuring plan to result in total pretax charges of about $109 million, which include employee separation expenses and other costs.

General Mills says about $94 million of those charges will be recorded in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ends Sunday. The remaining costs will be recorded in fiscal 2013. The company says it still expects adjusted fiscal 2012 profit of $2.53 to $2.55 per share. Analysts expect a profit of $2.54 per share.

Shares rose 3 cents Tuesday to $38.58.

Julie Forster can be reached at 651-228-5189. Follow her at twitter.com/bizbeatPiPress.