The voluntary recall includes four days of production of Cheerios and 13 days of production of Honey Nut Cheerios at the company’s Lodi, Calif., cereal plant. The cereal was made on certain dates in July.
“An isolated incident resulted in wheat flour being inadvertently introduced into the gluten-free oat system” at the Lodi plant,” the company said in a press statement.
It’s a Class I recall, meaning there is reasonable probability that it will cause serious health consequences or death. People with celiac disease can’t eat gluten, while many others suffer from gluten intolerance or wheat allergies. It’s likely that less than 10 percent of the U.S. population have such maladies.
Even though Cheerios are made primarily of oats, which contain no gluten, the cereal manufacturing process can still let some amounts of gluten through. General Mills recently retooled its Cheerios manufacturing systems to not allow any gluten to creep in.
The company is converting five Cheerios iterations — Apple Cinnamon, Multigrain, Frosted, Honey Nut and original — to be gluten-free.