FDA Investigating Reported Illnesses Tied To Lucky Charms Cereal

Scores of consumers weren’t feeling very lucky after eating General Mills’ GIS Lucky Charms cereal, with multiple reports of illness occurring after having a bowl of the longtime breakfast staple.

What Happened: The Associated Press reported the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received more than 100 complaints about Lucky Charms this year.

“The agency is currently reviewing and investigating these reports,” said the agency in a statement. “The FDA takes seriously any reports of possible adulteration of a food that may also cause illnesses or injury.”

Other complaints were filed on iwaspoisoned.com, a consumer-facing food safety website. Patrick Quade, the website’s founder, told the Wall Street Journal that he has fielded approximately 3,000 reports this year about Lucky Charms, with the majority of reports coming over the last two weeks. Quade added this was the most complaints he ever received about a single product.

Why It Happened: General Mills introduced Lucky Charms in 1964 as a cereal consisting of toasted oats and multi-colored marshmallow bits. The product has been heavily advertised for years, with an animated leprechaun named Lucky as its mascot. Last year, the product was in the news when the Walt Disney Co. DIS did a promotion for its Disney+ series “Loki” by having Lucky turn into a facsimile of Tom Hiddleston’s havoc-generating character.

The complaints tied to the cereal have cited nausea, diarrhea and vomiting that occurred shortly after consumption. General Mills issued a statement that said an internal investigation could not find any cause for illness related to the cereal, and the company asked consumers to contact it directly if illness occurs.

Nationwide cases of breakfast cereal-based illnesses are not common. The most recent case was a 2018 incident when The Kellogg Co. K confirmed a salmonella attack that impacted consumers in 36 states. The cause of the problem was tied to a third-party vendor’s production of its Honey Smacks cereal.

Photo: Ben Spark / Flickr Creative Commons