FDA: 125 ill after eating gluten-free Cheerios

Since the middle of September, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received 125 reports of people becoming ill after eating Cheerios labeled gluten-free.

Most people complained about gastrointestinal discomfort. The federal agency said it is not aware of any hospitalizations or deaths.

The complaints helped prompt General Mills to recall 1.8 million boxes of Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios Monday. The company determined the Cheerios could be contaminated with wheat, which contains gluten. General Mills says wheat flour was inadvertently introduced into the production process at a California plant for about two weeks in July.

The company launched gluten-free Cheerios earlier this year, after developing a process designed to keep grains containing gluten separate from oats, which do not. The protein can sicken people with wheat allergies, celiac disease or gluten intolerance.

General Mills said Cheerios produced at other plants were unaffected.

Spokesman Tom Forsythe said that as of Monday the company had received two reports of illness related to the gluten-free Cheerios produced at the California plant. The company investigated the complaints and tested the cereals.

"On several of the code dates included in the recall, we found gluten levels above 20 parts per million per serving, indicating the presence of gluten — likely from wheat — in products produced at our Lodi facility on those dates," Forsythe wrote in an e-mail. "We announced the recall less than 24 hours later."

Forsythe said the company is testing finished products for gluten, but for a number of days testing was not done.

"Unfortunately, human error introduced an amount of wheat flour into our otherwise gluten-free production system and finished product testing was not done on these run dates," Forsythe said.

Consumers requesting refunds or calling with further questions should contact General Mills Consumer Services at 800-775-8370.