Cheerios Recall: 1.8 Million Boxes Of Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios Gluten-Free Cereal Recalled After Wheat Sicknesses
Cheerios just announced a recall. And this Cheerios recall is a big recall. Cheerios might be beloved by many, but General Mills is announcing their voluntary recall due to an incident that happened at their factory in Lodi, California. That’s when wheat flour entered the Cheerios gluten-free oat-based system. That means that both the original Cheerios cereal and the Honey Nut Cheerios created during two weeks in July could contain wheat, even if the Cheerios boxes say “gluten-free” on the label.
“We’re so sorry to announce we’re recalling some boxes of Cheerios/Honey Nut Cheerios. Please view image below & share”
As reported by USA Today, the Cheerios recall was announced not only via Twitter, but also in a press release issued by the Cheerios maker. Although some people might poo-poo the whole “gluten-free” movement, the Cheerios maker realizes that some folks indeed suffer from sensitivity to wheat, and have wheat allergies that could be aggravated by gluten exposure. Those with celiac disease or gluten intolerance could be adversely affected, therefore General Mills has voluntarily recalled the products.
The Cheerios recall encompasses the original Cheerios cereal brand that experienced four days worth of production at the Lodi factory. As for the Honey Nut Cheerios produced at the factory, that encompassed a longer period of time: 13 days.
On the General Mills blog, Jim Murphy, president of the Cereal division, explained how the gluten-free mix-up and wheat exposure happened and why they decided to recall the Cheerios as a result.
“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. In an isolated incident involving purely human error, wheat flour was inadvertently introduced into our gluten-free oat flour system at Lodi.”
Prior to this huge Cheerios recall, the FDA had given a warning letter to General Mills due to claims that eating their cereal could lower consumers’ cholesterol and treat heart disease.
According to ABC News, the Cheerios recall came about as a result of some customers getting sick after consuming the Cheerios cereal. Two of those complaints of sickness came directly to the Cheerios maker. General Mills told customers to discover if they have recalled products by checking their “better if used by” dates on the boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios. Those boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios that are a part of the recall should contain dates from July 12 through July 25, 2016 — and a plant code of “LD” appearing at the end of the “better if used by” code.
The Cheerios recalled boxes could have “12JUL2016 LD” to “25Jul2016 LD” codes on the boxes of the recalled Cheerios.
[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
