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The US Food and Drug Administration is investigating Lucky Charms cereal after dozens of customers complained of illness after eating it.
The FDA said Saturday it has received more than 100 complaints related to Lucky Charms so far this year.
‘The FDA takes seriously any reports of possible adulteration of a food that may also cause illnesses or injury,’ the agency said in a statement.
‘The agency is currently reviewing and investigating these reports,’ an FDA spokeswoman said.
Several hundred people have also posted on a food safety website, iwaspoisoned.com, complaining of nausea, diarrhea and vomiting after eating Lucky Charms.
‘This is actually my second time experiencing symptoms after eating Lucky Charms and I am certain it is the cause!’ one person from Ohio reported to the website.
General Mills: Delicious Lucky Charms whole grain cereal displayed on store’s shelf
Pictured: Lucky Charms cereal, which has left dozens of customers complaining of illness after eating it
‘Having extreme abdominal pains time I am holding on to the remaining cereal left in the Box and hoping to get it tested soon! | Symptoms: Nausea, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Something else, Stomach Pain.’
‘I had Lucky Charms for breakfast. After that, about an hour or so later, I got diarrhea and bad gas. | Symptoms: Diarrhea, Gas,’ another person from Pittsburgh wrote.
‘My son ate the Lucky Charms and later that day he was ill. It come out of nowhere lasted for a couple of days | Symptoms: Nausea, Diarrhea,’ wrote another reviewer from North Carolina.
‘Ate Lucky Charms for breakfast on 4/12 and 4/13. Started feeling very nauseous and bloated to the point where it felt I was in a big bear hug. On 4/15 continued to feel nauseous and then diarrhea began,’ a user from Rochester, New York reported.
‘First looked like chicken noodle soup. Then it was like I had taken a preparation for colonoscopy! Looked like muddy water was gushing out. | Symptoms: Nausea, Diarrhea, Bloating.’
Patrick Quade, founder of the consumer website, said that as of April his site has received nearly 2,500 reports from people across the country who have said they got sick soon after eating Lucky Charms.
And the majority of those reports have been submitted over the last two weeks, which is the most complaints the decade-old website has ever received for a single product, he said.
Likewise, consumer reports to the FDA of Lucky Charms-linked illnesses have similarly spiked over the last week after reports by the New York Post and USA Today regarding the complaints made to iwaspoisoned.com.
While it is rare for people to get sick from eating breakfast cereal because cereal is baked, cereal can be contaminated after it is baked, typically when the puffs are glazed with a sugary coating or when it is packaged, food-safety experts have said.
In 2018, a salmonella outbreak traced to Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal left 135 people sick across 36 different states.
And in 2010, Kellogg recalled 28 million boxes of Froot Loops and other brands after complaints over the taste and smell, with some people claiming they got sick after eating it.
The problem was elevated levels of a food packaging substance in the cereal box lining, Kellogg found after an investigation into the claims.
Meanwhile, General Mills Inc., the Minneapolis-based company that makes Lucky Charms, Cheerios and other cereals, said it’s aware of those reports and takes them seriously.
But the company said its own investigation has not found any evidence of consumer illness linked to Lucky Charms.
General Mills said it encourages consumers to share their concerns directly with the company.
Source: Daily Mail
