Wheaties Mum on Caitlyn Jenner ... We Stand By Bruce

General Mills -- the makers of Wheaties -- had an interesting reaction to the passing of Bruce Jenner and the birth of Caitlyn.

As you know, Bruce's image was an iconic box cover for the cereal in 1977 ... one year after he won gold at the Olympics.

We contacted General Mills Monday and asked about their reaction to the new photos, and they told us, "Bruce Jenner continues to be a respected member of Team Wheaties."

We followed up by asking if they acknowledge the presence of Caitlyn and the response was short and to the point: "We stand by our statement."

We were told General Mills has had its statement locked and loaded for a while.

It's interesting ... the company rolled out the box cover in 2012 for a retro campaign celebrating the achievements of Olympic gold medalists, which also included the images of Muhammad Ali and Mary Lou Retton. We don't know if they will use Bruce's image in the future.