General Mills Voluntarily Recalling Cheerios That May Not Be Gluten-Free
General Mills is asking customers to check the date on boxes of Cheerios.
-- General Mills said that it's recalling some Cheerios cereal products, because some boxes may be mislabeled gluten-free that contain wheat.
The company said today that it's voluntarily recalling 1.8 million boxes of Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios made at its facility in Lodi, California, due to an incident that allowed wheat flour to enter its gluten-free oat-based system.
A spokeswoman for General Mills said there have been reports of illness by consumers online and two illness complaints were reported directly to General Mills related to the affected products.
The company asks customers to check the "better if used by" code dates on Honey Nut Cheerios boxes for July 12-25, 2016 with plant code "LD" at the end. For example, "12JUL2016 LD" to "25Jul2016 LD."
For the yellow boxes of original Cheerios, the dates are July 14-17, 2016:
14JUL2016 LD
15JUL2016 LD
16JUL2016 LD
17JUL2016 LD
The company said this voluntary recall affects products made in four days of the original Cheerios and 13 days of production of Honey Nut Cheerios.
The company, which is transitioning five varieties of Cheerios to gluten-free, said other cereals produced at General Mills' other facilities are not affected.
"We want to reassure you that this was an isolated incident and we have implemented a solution to ensure that this will not happen again. We'll also continue to test products and our oat flour supply to ensure our products meet the gluten-free standard. We care about what you and your family eat and we are truly sorry for this mistake. We will work extremely hard to earn back your trust," according to a statement from the Cheerios Twitter handle.
Customers who want refunds or have questions should call General Mills consumer services at 800-775-8370.