General Mills Inc. has initiated a nationwide recall of three brands of flour, totaling about 10 million pounds, in response to a 20-state E. coli outbreak that has sickened 38 people.
Although government officials have reportedly been investigating the outbreak, no state or federal agencies had released any information about it at the point Tuesday when the Minneapolis-based company announced the recall.
“State and federal authorities have been researching 38 occurrences of illnesses across 20 states related to a specific type of E. coli O121, between Dec.21, 2015, and May 3, 2016,” according to a news release from General Mills.
“While attempting to track the cause of the illness, CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) found that approximately half of the individuals reported making something homemade with flour at some point prior to becoming ill. Some reported using a General Mills brand of flour.”
The recall includes six SKUs (stock keeping units or UPC codes) of Gold Medal branded flour, two SKU’s of Signature Kitchens branded flour and one SKU of Gold Medal Wondra branded flour.
The recalled flour can be identified HERE
