While it's rare for consumers to get sick from dried, boxed breakfast cereal, the FDA over the weekend said it's investigating reports from more than 100 people who say they got ill after eating General Mills' Lucky Charms.
A consumer website devoted to foodborne illnesses (iwaspoisoned.com) claimed it's received 3.000 reports this year from people around the country who said they got sick soon after eating the cereal, according to the Wall Street Journal. The vast majority of the reports came in over the past two weeks, especially after a few local media reported consumer complaints. They are the most complaints the decade-old website has ever received for a single product, the Journal reported.
General Mills said it is working with the FDA and conducted its own internal investigation that found no evidence of illnesses linked to the cereal. Neither General Mills nor the FDA has issued a recall of the product. No specific Best-By dates or manufacturing lots were specified.
Consumers complained of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea after eating Lucky Charms.
As the Journal explained, its rare for breakfast cereal to carry a pathogen because it's baked, which typically kills pathogens, but cereal can be contaminated after it is baked, when the puffs are glazed with a sugary coating, for example, or when it is packaged.
