Cheerios recall 1.8M boxes due to allergy risk

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Cheerios manufacturer General Mills announced on Monday that they will be recalling over 1.8 million boxes of their gluten-free products as it may have been added with wheat.

The recalled gluten-free products are Cheerios in original and honey nut flavors. According to Reuters, these products may mistakenly contain wheat flour which can trigger adverse reactions in those who are allergic to gluten, wheat or those who have celiac disease.

The affected products are made at the company's Lodi, California factory and instead of being made with gluten-free oat flour, wheat flour was used.

"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," said General Mills President Jim Murphy, according to a report by USA Today. "In an isolated incident involving purely human error, wheat flour was inadvertently introduced into our gluten-free oat flour system at Lodi."

General Mills announced the information on Twitter and on its official website as how to identify the boxes that has been compromised.

We're so sorry to announce we’re recalling some boxes of Cheerios/Honey Nut Cheerios. Please view image below & share pic.twitter.com/L9gxUutA3j

— Cheerios (@cheerios) October 5, 2015

The company said that the same products produced in other plants are safe.

"The Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios produced at our other facilities are, and will continue to be, FDA compliant and gluten-free. We'll also continue to test products and our oat flour supply extensively to ensure our products meet the gluten-free standard," the company said in their website.

Other gluten-free cereals such as Frosted Cheerios, MultiGrain Cheerios, and Apple Cinnamon Cheerios are all considered safe.

The company explained why the affected products have wheat flour in them. The recall included four days of production of the original Cheerios and 13 days of production of Honey Nut Cheerios in July.

"During the dates in question, the company's Lodi facility lost rail service, and the company's gluten-free oat flour was off-loaded from rail cars and transferred to trucks," the statement said. "The company believes this isolated incident resulted in wheat flour being inadvertently introduced into the gluten free oat flour system at its Lodi facility, introducing an undeclared allergen—wheat—into products labeled as gluten free."

The recall stemmed from the investigation after the company was alerted of complaints from consumers who were gluten intolerant.

"Two complaints of illness have been reported directly to General Mills related to the affected products," General Mills said in an e-mail to Star Tribune.