General Mills is recalling 1.8 million boxes of the
breakfast cereal it advertises as gluten free.The company made headlines last
year when it announced that Cheerios would become the first breakfast cereal
free of genetically-modified organisms (GMO).
Both claims are easy to achieve with oats because no oat
varieties have genes imported from other species, as do most corn and soybean
varieties on the North American market. Oats also contain no gluten.
The company said Monday it was recalling the original and
honey nut-flavoured varieties of Cheerios produced on certain days at its Lodi,
California facility. Only the “original” brand is advertised as GMO free.
The incident occurred when the facility lost rail service
and the company’s gluten-free oat flour was being offloaded from rail cars to
trucks for delivery, said Jim Murphy, president of the company’s cereal
business, in a blog post on General Mills’ website. He said it was an isolated
event and a result of human error.
“We sincerely apologize to the gluten-free community and to
anyone who may have been impacted,” Murphy said.
Ingestion of gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and
rye, by individuals with celiac disease causes an autoimmune response that
attacks the small intestine, damaging the body’s ability to properly absorb
nutrients.
