Are YOU Gluten-Free? General Mills is Voluntarily Recalling Cheerios AND Honey Nut Cheerios…
Important recall for all you Hip2Savers with wheat allergies, celiac disease or gluten intolerance!
If you recently purchased General Mills Cheerios and/or Honey Nut Cheerios, General Mills is voluntarily recalling boxes of these cereals produced at its Lodi, California facility on certain dates in July of this year. This recall is due to an isolated incident resulting in wheat flour being inadvertently introduced into the gluten free oat flour system at its Lodi facility. As a result, these cereals may contain an undeclared allergen – wheat – in products labeled as gluten-free.
To find out if your box is affected, check the “BETTER IF USED BY” code date on the top of the box and look for the plant code LD which indicates the product was produced at Lodi, California:
If you have a wheat allergy, celiac disease or gluten intolerance AND you purchased one or more of the boxes with code dates mentioned above, you need to contact General Mills Consumer Services for a replacement or full refund at 1-800-775-8370. Click here to read the full article.
NOTE: 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.
My celiac son was affected by this. It is not so all good.
So sorry to hear this. Cheerios is a very popular snack for young kids. I give my son these cheerios simply because we try to avoid certain foods/ingredients on a regular basis. Prayers to those and their kids effected by this.
General Mills isn’t doing this voluntarily, as I recall hearing. By claiming it’s a voluntary recall, it’s good publicity for them.
Most people don’t keep Cheerio boxes for 4+ months. 😕
Does that justify their selling boxes of their product that can cause others health issues?
I think she was just saying that she didn’t keep the box from that time so she wouldn’t know. If she’s like me, I have cereal containers and I put my cereal in them and throw the boxes away.
We didn’t either, but my son was affected. He has had problems for 2 months, we bought several boxes as soon as they came out. We have been dealing with problems that have required doctor help, and could not figure out why
Sara, you’re not alone, unfortunately. We have been dealing with the same mysterious issues with our 6yo. I told the doctor that I thought it had something to do with those new Cheerios.
We are still eating cereal bought earlier this year. I’d have boxes from July. Cereal is a popular stockpile item.
This is not funny at all. Having a son who is gluten free means you have to be careful what they eat. You trust brands that say they are gluten free. My son has been eating these since they came out. I have no real way to know if the boxes he already ate were gluten free or not. His stomach has been a little off lately and now I wonder if this is why. A replacement box does nothing to fix all the boxes and possible gluten he already ate. I feel they should do something more for people who suffered real health effects because of it.
I didn’t mean to imply it was funny, by my comment, but the email after my first comment sounded to me, as if the writer was trying to justify not having their recall. As a senior citizen who didn’t outgrow an allergic reaction to gluten from childhood, I know first hand how sick one can get from eating productions with gluten. As a senior there are less and less products, one is allowed to eat due to different health issues.
Michelle, My son also suffers from gluten issues. Sadly, sometimes we will never know what upsets their tummy. Are you suggesting General Mills pays you on top of offering a free box because of the possible gluten ( your words ) he may have eaten?
It’s difficult to prove this may or may not have caused issues unless the diet was solely Cheerios and nothing else.
There have been issues with gluten free Cheerios in general…if you follow any of the gluten free blogs, you may already know this…it has something to do with the process they are using…if you have issues with gluten I would pay close attention to this.
Also, even before these “Gluten Free” ones came out, Cheerios made in certain facilities stated in their ingredients that they did not contain wheat. Other boxes, made in different facilities, did not have anything saying that they did not contain wheat. This is not the only product that I’ve found that is like this. My 6yo has severe food allergies and can’t eat or touch anything that has wheat in it.
Wow, I’ve been gluten free for 5 years, I didn’t even realize Cheerios was claiming to be gluten free now. I guess that’s a good thing.
I knew it!! My 6yo has severe food allergies, one of them being wheat. He had a reaction when he ate the Cheerios that were labeled “Gluten Free” that we got at Costco, several weeks ago. I even mentioned it to his teacher and called his allergist. Interesting…
Sorry to hear that Kristie, glad you know what the reaction was from.
For anyone with allergy kids, I need advice…my daughter is has severe gluten allergies and and now appears to be allergic to oats as well (vomits violently for 3+ hours). I am finally realizing that we need to have her officially tested for both of those but need to know if there’s anything else (specific) that anyone thinks I should check for. She doesn’t eat any food with gluten or oats but she frequently complains of tummy aches.
Your daughter vomits violently for 3+ hours and you haven’t had her tested? Please tell me you’ve contacted her doctor. This should NOT be the first place you ask for advise.
Exactly!
Thank you for the judgemental scolding. First of all, yes, I have spoken with her doctor. His opinion was that, if she clearly reacted this way to gluten, then obviously she should not have it. Therefore, I could go through testing but would end up with the same result which is, stop all gluten. I have done that. She has been 100% gluten free. Then, a couple months ago, she had gluten free oatmeal. She got sick. A couple weeks ago, she had a piece of gluten free carrot cake and again, got sick. So I checked and found out it contained oat flour. She has also complained on and off of tummy aches. They are never horrible and are typically short lived. Nonetheless, I want to have her tested to see if maybe there are other allergies.
NO, this is not the only place I was going for advice. Because this was a gluten related/allergy related post, I thought that maybe someone would have knowledge on testing or have knowledge as to what may be considered a common allergy possibility that is known to go along with gluten and oat. That all I was asking. I certainly didn’t expect your comment.
If you had mentioned you went to the doctor first off – perhaps you would’ve received a different response. A doctor that hasn’t tested your child, but instead tells you to stay away seems odd to me. We had testing along with an upper GI. It may be a combination of food or environmental. You’ll never know without some sort of test. But to ask on a blog without doctors go ahead seems reckless. Violent vomiting for 3+ hours. Really. Take that precious baby to a different doctor perhaps. No one should deal with that
I was never intending for this blog to be my sole adviser when it comes to the health of my children. If I gave that impression, then I sincerely apologize. I am use to speaking with moms who are interested in helping one another but not assuming the worst of one another. Also, I mentioned that my daughter vomited violently for 3+ hours, however, did not, in any way, mean to indicate that it happened on a daily basis. This happened when we first discovered the gluten issue and then recently, when we discovered the oat issue. I have every intention of going to a specialist now to see if there are any other problems. I was simply posting on here because it seemed that there were a lot of parents who had been through this already and I thought someone might have some words of wisdom as to specific things that are common allergies for kids with celiac and/or oat problems. Just thought someone might want to share their experience as it pertains to my situation. As a mom, I try to support other moms and help them if I am able to do so. I thin most moms and dads are this way. Please don’t reply to my posts negatively when I have done nothing to you. No, maybe I didn’t mention that I had spoken to the doctor, but you certainly didn’t ask before insinuating that I was a neglectful parent. Let’s all try to be positive, whether on this particular post or any other. 🙂
I would look into GAPS or Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Both are gut healing diets. SCD being the original celiac diet. hth
But PLEASE don’t do anything before talking to your doctor. I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable giving advise on diets for a child that violently vomits with speaking to a doctor.
Thank you Christine!
You are welcome, Jen! When my son was small we went to the dr and had absolutely no support from him. Our son has autism and the dr told us not to do dietary even before we mentioned it. We started out gf/cf and within a week he could sit and put a puzzle together. We knew we were on the right track. Then, from another mom, we learned about SCD and in three weeks my son could follow directions. We did things on our own and my son is doing awesome. We started our dd on SCD in May and it has been phenomenal! I shudder to think were we would be if we had not follow our own instincts and listened to the dr instead!
My daughter has lots of food allergies including gluten which we have only known about for a few years. As a baby and toddler she vomited a lot. She is 15 now but back then I honestly didn’t even know if was from food allergies and when she was an infant her pediatrician told me I was feeding her too much and that was why she was vomiting. We did have her skin tested and identified lots of foods that she is allergic to. There are some things that there is no test for . She is allergic to aspirin and we learned about it the hard way. As a baby when she was sick I would give her baby advil and she would vomit and I thought just from being sick and we had a couple of other episodes of her vomiting after medicine but one day I gave her some medicine that contained aspirin and she could not breathe and was rushed to ER . Looking back we now know it is an allergy to Nsaids but at the time we did not know. The allergy specialist will ask you lots of questions to narrow down what they should test. Skin test are not 100% accurate but a start. I am pretty sure oats was an option for skin test.
I hope so. I will have to do whatever it takes to get this all figured out, but I hate to see her go through any more than she absolutely has to. Thanks!
They won’t truly be gluten free until they grow the parts away from wheat fields :'(
My niece had a big reaction to cheerios recently. Lucky my 3 year old only had three poops.
Oh boy, look out for the lawsuits. I’m sure people will claim these Cheerio’s poisoned their kids. However, it would be hard to prove that the cereal alone caused reactions.
Right on Glen! People need to be responsible for what they eat. Unless you cook from scratch and know the source any food can be cross contaminated.
Right!?! If my kids had an allergy I wouldn’t trust anyone or anything other than myself making what they eat. And I know my post will get follow ups talking about not having time to do it but trust me when it comes to your kids you make time.
Exactly. My son started having issues when he was 3. I MADE THE TIME! I had to make my own pasta, breads, everything! you can’t cross contaminate. So I had to buy another toaster etc. You do anything you can to feed your child.
My brother was getting married on Mackinac Island shortly after my son being diagnosed. We didn’t go. How could I trust any of the places we were supposed to eat at? I couldn’t. My child came first.
That’s awesome mom to mom I want to tell you you’re doing a great job 🙂
Tanya, thank you. As a mom, everything takes a backseat to my boys. They are my life! 😃
Same here except I have girls 😉
Having grown up during the depression, I remember when parents used to cook for their kids, and foods were fresher, people couldn’t afford doctors, so if someone’s child got sick, and the parent didn’t know what to do, some neighbor always knew.
I’m not suggesting that social media should replace doctors, but this is why I posted a question on here. Sometimes you can find out more from other moms or dads with allergy kids than you can from a doctor. I still plan to go to the dr but was curious as to whether someone had gone through something similar and may be able to shed some light on this.
Yesterday my daughter was in the bathroom all day and we had been racking our minds trying to figure what she could have eaten. I came downstairs and saw this story on the news and she had eaten Cheerios. She will be fine in a couple of days and just discomfort for her but I will not trust General Mills again. It would be one thing if they had not claimed that Cheerios are gluten free. When she was younger she loved Cheerios and was so excited to be able to add back to her diet. Several years ago she was suffering with lots of digestive issues and we took her to her pediatrician and they really didn’t help but we did an elimination diet and after we took gluten out of her diet she was fine. I know people don’t believe that people can be just sensitive to gluten but I am a believer from our own experiences. We have had other incidents where she was having stomach issues and we were able to trace back to some gluten inadvertently in her diet.
Thanks for your post. So have she ever been diagnosed either celiac and/or gluten allergy/sensitivity by a doctor?
I am sorry to hear she has had a rough time. It’s hard to see your child sick or struggling in any way. The Cheerios thing makes me mad too. I know mistakes happen, but that was just ridiculous!
So sorry to hear she was sick, but good it is known now what caused it 🙁
I’m a celiac and so is my son and we were trying to figure out what was giving us chronic diarrhea for a week and a half. I lost ten lbs. from this!!! Not good at all.
I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s hard when you have to worry about everything you eat. We should, at the very least, be able to trust these big companies when they go to great lengths to say that something is gf.
🙁
Jen good luck in figuring it out I’ve been there done that with milk and soy allergies and gluten intolerance with my now 19 year old daughter. It is harder when they are younger. My two cents – keep a food diary. And observe your child. My daughter naturally avoided foods that made her feel ill. I thought she was a picky eater but she just knew her body. She now follows a low fodmap diet that helps with her IBS. Dieticians were a blessing over the years, especially if you can find a nutritional/medical therapy registered dietician. I truly believe knowledge is power and wish you all the best on this journey.
Thank you so much Cindy. A diary is a great idea. It’s crossed my mind before but I forgot again. Thanks for mentioning it because I truly think it will be helpful!
And I’m glad to hear your daughter has found what works for her.
Hi Cindy, I have recently been following a low formal diet. I am highly sensitive to soy. What does your daughter eat? Everything has soy lecithin in it. I also can’t have nuts and seeds. I can have gluten, oddly enough. But recently I was on a strong medicine and it messed up my whole system. I think I may be sensitive to more food. Thank you for the reminder of the food diary. I used it last year and it worked, so I will start again.
*fodmap *
Lauren- sometimes i wonder what she does eat! She is vegetarian too and can eat some soy. Lactose free milk, greek yogurt, activia, small amounts of whey protein, smoothies, mushrooms, parmesan cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, refried beans, black beans, minestrone, broccoli, rice, quinoa, potatoes in many forms, salads , corn tortillas. A number of fruits work for her. She can eat nuts. No eggs, meat or fish. Avoids fresh and canned tomatoes. Moderation is the key and smaller amounts. Does this help a little? Once you get the hang of it you will feel better and find what works best for you. We have become better cooks and one year into it, food is enjoyable again. I wish you the best!