General Mills Cheerios & Honey Nut Cheerios Cereal Voluntary Recall

For Immediate Release

October 8, 2015; 10:20am

DPHSS Release No. 2015-080

General Mills Cheerios & Honey Nut Cheerios Cereal Voluntary Recall

The Department of Public Health and Social Services, in coordination with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, would like to inform the public of a voluntary recall involving General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios and Cheerios cereal products produced at its Lodi, California facility on certain dates in July 2015 because of an undeclared allergen (i.e., wheat) on its label and the potential for adverse health effects.

The affected Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios are being recalled because an isolated incident resulted in wheat flour being inadvertently introduced into the gluten free oat flour system at its Lodi facility.

This voluntary recall includes four days production of original (yellow box) Cheerios, and thirteen days of production of Honey Nut Cheerios at its Lodi, California facility with the following "BETTER IF USED BY" code dates and the plant code “LD” which indicates the product was produced at Lodi, California:

Honey Nut Cheerios

Yellow Box Cheerios

12JUL2016LD

17JUL2016LD

23JUL2016LD

14JUL2016LD

13JUL2016LD

18JUL2016LD

24JUL2016LD

15JUL2016LD

14JUL2016LD

20JUL2016LD

25JUL2016LD

16JUL2016LD

15JUL2016LD

21JUL2016LD

22JUL2016LD

17JUL2016LD

16JUL2016LD

Products containing wheat can cause illness or severe reactions for individuals with wheat allergies or celiac disease, including illness or discomfort for individuals with gluten intolerance.

General Mills is transitioning five varieties of Cheerios to gluten free. Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios cereals produced at General Mills’ other facilities, or on dates other than those noted at the Lodi, California facility, are not impacted. General Mills’ other gluten-free Cheerios varieties, including Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, Frosted Cheerios and MultiGrain Cheerios, are not impacted and are not being recalled. No other General Mills cereals are affected.

To date, the Division of Environmental Health has determined that affected Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios cereals were sold at Island Fresh Supermarket in Chalan Pago.  All affected products were removed from store shelves and destroyed.  Island Fresh Supermarket was notified by their corporate headquarters on October 6, 2015 and took corrective actions immediately.

The Department has not received any local report of injuries or illnesses associated with the consumption of these recalled commodities.  Consumers who have purchased the items listed above are urged to return it to the place of purchase or have the option of obtaining a full refund or replacement by contacting General Mills by either calling their number at 1-800-775-8370 or visiting their website at http://www.cheerios.com/glutenfreerecall.

For any questions, please contact the Consumer Commodities Program at the Division of Environmental Health at 735-7221.