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The bacteria
strain behind the outbreak has not been found in any of General
Mills' Gold Medal, Wondra and Signature Kitchens flour or their
manufacturing plant, the company said. Consumers have not
contacted it directly to report any illnesses, the
Minneapolis-based company added.
"Out of an abundance of caution, a voluntary recall is being
made," General Mills said.
U.S. and state health authorities are probing an outbreak of E.
coli O121 from Dec. 21 to May 3, General Mills said. The
potentially deadly strain can cause bloody diarrhea and
dehydration, mostly among the elderly, very young children and
people with weak immune systems.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that about
half of the 38 sickened people reported cooking with flour
before becoming ill, General Mills said. About half of this
group reported using a General Mills brand, a company spokesman
said in a phone interview.
Additional recall information can be found at
www.generalmills.com/flour.
Kashi Co, owned by General Mills' rival Kellogg Co <K.N>, also
announced a recall of one variety each of its granola and
granola bars on Tuesday.
Kashi said the bars contained ingredients made from sunflower
seeds distributed by SunOpta <SOY.TO> that had the potential to
be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.
The bacteria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in
young children, frail or elderly people, and others with
weakened immune systems.
SunOpta this month recalled some of its sunflower kernel
products produced at its Crookston, Minnesota facility between
Feb. 1 and Feb. 19, citing the potential to be contaminated with
listeria.
(Reporting by Melissa Fares in New York and Sruthi Ramakrishnan
in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Chang and Maju Samuel)
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