General Mills Conducts Nationwide Flour Recall

Company pulls products from store shelves due to possible Salmonella Infantis contamination

5/1/2023

General Mills is conducting a voluntary national recall of 2-, 5- and 10-pound bags of its Gold Medal Unbleached and Bleached All Purpose Flour.

General Mills is conducting a voluntary national recall of 2-, 5- and 10-pound bags of its Gold Medal Unbleached and Bleached All Purpose Flour with “better if used by” dates of March 27, 2024, and March 28, 2024. The recall is being issued for the potential presence of Salmonella Infantis, which was discovered during sampling of the 5-pound bag product.

This recall affects two date codes of Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose Flour in the 5- and 10-pound bags and two date codes of Gold Medal Bleached All Purpose Flour in the 2- and 5-pound bags. All other types of Gold Medal Flour aren’t affected by this recall.

General Mill’s voluntary recall includes the following code dates currently in stores or consumers’ pantries:

Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose 5LB Flour
Package UPC 000-16000-19610
Recalled Better if Used by Date 27MAR2024 and 28MAR2024

Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose 10LB Flour
Package UPC 000-16000-19580
Recalled Better if Used by Date 27MAR2024 and 28MAR2024

Gold Medal Bleached All Purpose 2LB Flour
Package UPC 000-16000-10710
Recalled Better if Used by Date 27MAR2024 and 28MAR2024

Gold Medal Bleached All Purpose 5LB Flour
Package UPC 000-16000-10610
Recalled Better if Used by Date 27MAR2024 and 28MAR2024

Consumers are being asked to check their pantries and dispose of the product affected by this recall. Consumers who have had to discard products may contact General Mills Consumer Relations at 1-800-230-8103.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warn that consumers should refrain from consuming any raw products made with flour. Salmonella Infantis is killed by heat through baking, frying, sautéing or boiling products made with flour.

Healthy persons infected with Salmonella Infantis, a bacteria, often experience nausea, diarrhea, fever and abdominal pains. The CDC estimates that there are 1.2 million cases annually in the United States. Typically, symptoms start within six hours to six days after infection and last four to seven days.

US Today reported that neither General Mills nor the FDA and the CDC have said whether this is connected to a multistate salmonella outbreak that the agencies began investigating in March. So far the agencies have identified 12 illnesses and three hospitalizations, but no deaths, in the outbreak across 11 states. They have yet to identify specific brands of flour linked to the illnesses.

Minneapolis-based General Mills’s portfolio of brands includes household names such as Cheerios, Nature Valley, Blue Buffalo, Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Annie’s, Wanchai Ferry and Yoki. General Mills generated fiscal 2022 net sales of U.S. $19.0 billion. In addition, the company’s share of nonconsolidated joint- venture net sales totaled U.S. $1.1 billion.

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