General Mills is transitioning five varieties of Cheerios to gluten free.
The company revealed that affected boxes were produced over 3 days in July for the Cheerios boxes and over 13 days for the Honey Nut Cheerios, and about 150,000 cases were shipped nationally fall under the recall. It started shipping gluten-free Cheerios in five flavors in July. General Mills’ other gluten-free Cheerios varieties, including Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, Frosted Cheerios and MultiGrain Cheerios, are not impacted and are not being recalled.
Nearly 2 million boxes of Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios have been recalled by General Mills Inc. because of an incident where wheat might have been introduced into products that were labeled gluten-free. “These products would be safe for people without celiac or who are not gluten intolerant or sensitive to wheat or gluten - and that would include most consumers”, the company said. Cheerios are made primarily of oats, which naturally do not have gluten, however, the cereal manufacturing process can still allow small amounts of gluten to intermingle. The company also tested the oat flour used to make its gluten-free products at its Lodi facility and confirmed that its oat flour met the F.D.A. gluten-free standard. General Mills had previewed this redesign eight months ago, and products and solutions that will maintained no wheat or grain, just about or rye proceeded distribution in July.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released an email which stated it had received 125 reports since mid-September of consumers who had encountered adverse effects after eating Cheerios labeled gluten-free. Other General Mills plants were not affected.
The introduction of gluten-free Cheerios comes after nearly a decade of planning, with the project beginning in 2007, about the same time that General Mill’s Chex brand moved toward becoming the first mainstream gluten-free cereal. “But General Mills has already made considerable inroads in the gluten-free market and will undoubtedly continue to thrive and find success providing consumers with gluten-free alternatives to the brands they know and love”, says Sprinkle.
To manage the disease, she transitioned over to a gluten free diet seven years ago.
