General Mills Issues Massive Cheerios Recall

By Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

General Mills has issued a voluntary recall of approximately 1.8 million boxes of Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios after discovering some of its gluten-free labeled products may contain wheat, the company announced last week.

The affected boxes of cereal were produced over several days at a production facility in Lodi, Calif., and were shipped nationwide, according to Kirstie Foster, General Mills director of corporate and brand communications.

“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,” said Jim Murphy, president of the General Mills cereal division, in a statement. “In an isolated incident involving purely human error, wheat flour was inadvertently introduced into our gluten-free oat flour system at Lodi.”

General Mills is in the process of transitioning five of its cereal varieties to gluten-free oat flour.

The recall includes boxes of Cheerios with a “better if used by” date of July 14, 15, 16 or 17 of 2016 and an LD plant code. Affected boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios include a “better if used by” date of July 12 through July 25 of 2016, with an LD plant code.

Customers with wheat allergies, gluten intolerance or celiac disease should not consume the affected products.

General Mills is in the process of retrieving affected boxes of cereal. Customers who bought the cereal can contact General Mills at 800-775-8370 for a full refund or replacement.

(c)2015 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: Justin Sullivan via AFP