General Mills Recalls 1.8M Cheerios Boxes
US food giant General Mills announced in a press release that it is voluntarily recalling an estimated 1.8 million boxes of the gluten-free Cheerios that might actually be containing traces of gluten, reports USA Today. The recall is apparently due to an isolated incident wherein wheat was unintentionally added into the cereal labelled as gluten-free. In particular the original Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios are being recalled. They are being taken off from warehouses and store shelves.
The food manufacturer warns that the Cheerios cereal produced at their facility in Lodi, California on certain dates in July, might cause adverse reactions to health in people who are particularly allergic to gluten, reports USA Today. Those with wheat allergies, celiac disease and gluten intolerance are most susceptible. Four days production of original Cheerios and thirteen days of production of Honey Nut Cheerios have been recalled.
According to CNBC, a tweet from the company was sent out warning people with gluten allergies to check their boxes before consumption. The respective date and factory code of the recalled boxes were stated to help people identify, in case they have already bought it. The message was also shared on their company website and across social media networks. The company said in their news release that consumers with wheat allergies, celiac disease or gluten intolerance should not consume products bearing the affected code dates and should contact General Mills for a replacement or full refund.
"Our Lodi production facility lost rail service for a time and our gluten-free oat flour was being off-loaded from rail cars to trucks for delivery to our facility on the dates in question," Jim Murphy, President of General Mills' cereal business, said in a statement on General Mill's blog. "In an isolated incident involving purely human error, wheat flour was inadvertently introduced into our gluten-free oat flour system at Lodi."
