In a rare move by a large food manufacturer, General Mills recalled several package sizes of its popular Gold Medal Flour over salmonella concerns.
The action, announced on Friday, May 1, affects the following:
- 2-pound,
- 5-pound, and
- 10-pound bags of
- Gold Medal Unbleached and Bleached All-Purpose Flour
- with specific “better if used by” dates printed on the bags.
- The “better by” dates are March 27, 2024, and March 28, 2024.
No other Gold Medal Flour products are impacted by the recall.
Salmonella Outbreak Reported by the CDC Related to Flour
The reason for the recall is that salmonella may have crept into the production process for these bags. General Mills said salmonella “was discovered during sampling of the five-pound bag product.”
The company said it was voluntarily recalling the products, but actually, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had posted the recall on April 28.
In fact, in related news, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on May 1 that there were 12 cases of salmonella related to flour. The CDC says that it first started its investigation on March 30, 2023.
The CDC provided the following fast facts:
- Illnesses - 13 (1 new)
- Hospitalizations - 3 (0 new)
- Deaths - 0
- States - 12 (1 new)
- Investigation status - Active - since March 30
Johns Hopkins Medicine reports that the typical salmonella symptoms, which take 12 to 72 hours after infection to manifest) are the following:
- Diarrhea
- Fever
- Abdominal cramps
- Chills
- Headache
- Nausea or vomiting
Many different illnesses have symptoms similar to salmonella. As a result, diagnosis depends on lab tests that identify salmonella in your stool.
That means you have to report your symptoms to your doctor first, and indicate that you want to have a lab report to see what you may have contracted.
Since this means a person has to outreach to medical officials, it's possible that the total number of infected people could be higher than the reported number.
Bottom line: Avoid General Mills Gold Medal flour products for now.
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Mark R. Hake, CFA, writes articles on national and local news, stocks, and market events at Kiplinger.com, Barchart.com, Medium.com, and Newsbreak.com as well as TalkMarkets.
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