FDA probes Lucky Charms over illness complaints
Consumers report across U.S. and Canada
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating scores of reports from consumers who say they fell ill after consuming Lucky Charms.
The agency said it has received more than 100 reports since January from people alleging the popular breakfast cereal caused nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. A food safety website has separately documented thousands of similar complaints dating back to at least 2021. But neither the FDA nor the manufacturer, General Mills, has issued a recall.
“The FDA takes seriously any reports of possible adulteration of a food that may also cause illnesses or injury,” the FDA told The Washington Post in an emailed statement, noting that “isolated incidents” and “complaints of a less serious nature” are monitored and “may be used during a future inspection of a company to help the FDA identify problem areas in a production plant.”
Iwaspoisoned.com, a real-time consumer reporting platform for food safety issues, meanwhile, shows that Lucky Charms complaints have been trending since late 2021. But they've surged in recent weeks, with reports surpassing 3,000. Complaints have come from every U.S. state and Canada.
Andrea Williamson, a spokeswoman for General Mills, said food safety is the company's “top priority.”
“We take the consumer concerns reported via a third-party website very seriously. Through our continuing internal investigations, we have not found any evidence of consumer illness linked to the consumption of
Lucky Charms,” Williamson said.
The stream of reports on iwaspoisoned.com is remarkably consistent, with consumers from coast to coast complaining of severe stomach issues.
“Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and horrible belching with an awful taste, almost chemical. Household of 4 all experienced the same thing,” a consumer from Defiance, Ohio, reported.
Food-borne illnesses tied to cereal are uncommon — largely due to the fact that cereal is baked, which usually kills pathogens — but not unheard of. In 2018, Kellogg's recalled some boxes of Honey Smacks cereal in connection with a salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 130 people, according to the CDC. In 2010, Kellogg's recalled 28 million boxes of Froot Loops, Apple Jacks and other popular cereals after 20 people became ill due to a “breakdown product” of chemicals used in the packaging.