Cheerios Recalled Over Wheat Flour Fears

Some 1.8 million boxes of gluten-free Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios produced at a California plant have been recalled because they contain wheat.

General Mills (NYSE: GIS - news) issued the recall for products made at the factory in Lodi in July.

The Minneapolis-based company said wheat flour was inadvertently used in a gluten-free oat flour system, meaning people with conditions including wheat allergies or coeliac disease could suffer a reaction to them.

Affected batches have the plant code LD on them. The Cheerios have best before dates from 14 July to 17 July, 2016, while the Honey Nut Cheerios have dates of 12 to 25 July, 2016.

Jim Murphy, president of General Mills' cereal business, said: "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.

"In an isolated incident involving purely human error, wheat flour was inadvertently introduced into our gluten-free oat flour system at Lodi."

Earlier this year General Mills said it had found a way to remove small amounts of wheat, rye and barley which are unintentionally added to oat supplies when the oats are being grown or transported.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) began shipping gluten-free Cheerios in five different flavours in July.

The company said it would take the cereals out of warehouses and off store shelves, and said customers who cannot eat wheat should contact the company for a replacement or refund.

The recall has not been issued for cereals made at other plants or on different dates (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .