Food manufacturer, General Mills, issued a recall on October 5, 2015 of 1.8 million boxes of GF labeled Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios, produced at their Lodi, California facility. During a specific 4 days of production of Cheerios and 13 days of production of Honey Nut Cheerios, wheat flour was inadvertently introduced into their gluten-free oat flour and labeled as gluten-free.
Obviously, this faux pas instills fear in the hearts of people and parents of children with celiac disease, non celiac gluten sensitivity and wheat allergies. Symptoms from ingestion of gluten can last up to three days and can have devastating emotional and physical reactions.
General Mills has invested millions of dollars toward safely manufacturing, packaging and transporting their Cheerios cereals to comply with strict GF guidelines. Although we applaud their efforts to comply with FDA approved guidelines for GF certified cereals, it is with a heavy heart, disappointment and sadness that a gluten contamination occured. On a positive note, at least they didn’t try to cover it up and not disclosed what happened.
For more specific information about how to identify which boxes were effected, go to their press release and check out the codes and dates on your box to determine if it was contaminated with wheat flour. General Mills will send you a replacement or a full refund. Or, if you have any other questions you may contact General Mills Consumer Services at: 1-800-775-8370.
Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, Frosted Cheerios and MultiGrain Cheerios were not involved in the recall.
“To error is human, to forgive, divine.”
-Alexander Pope