As the E. coli outbreak traced to General Mills flour continues to grow the giant food company has again expanded its recall of flour and renewed its warnings to consumers to not eat raw flour.
Four more people are confirmed with E. coli infections, bringing the count to 46 people across 21 states, according to a Monday afternoon update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No one has died, but 13 victims have required hospitalization and one has developed the serious complication hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure that is often fatal. The first 42 outbreak victims were infected with E. coli O121.
A second serotype of the pathogen — E. coli O26 — is also involved and has been confirmed by lab tests to be present in samples of General Mills flour, a CDC spokeswoman told Food Safety News.
In response General Mills expanded its recall — already at 30 million pounds — to include two more months of production from its Kansas City, MO, plant. The recall now includes flour produces at the plant from Nov. 4, 2015, through Feb. 10 this year. The operational status of the plant is unclear.
The recall still includes only three main brands of flour, Gold Medal, Signature Kitchens and Wondra. Several sizes and varieties of these three brands are under recall. The complete list is available online.
“At this time, it is unknown if we are experiencing a higher prevalence of E. coli in flour than normal, if this is an issue isolated to General Mills’ flour, or if this is an issue across the flour industry,” according to a news release from General Mills Monday afternoon.
“The newer detection and genome sequencing tools are also possibly making a connection to flour that may have always existed at these levels.”
The news release from the Minneapolis-based food giant reminds consumers about their responsibilities for food safety in their homes.
“The illnesses reported to health officials continue to be connected with consumers reporting that they ate or handled uncooked dough or ate uncooked batter made with raw flour. No illnesses have been connected with flour that has been properly baked, cooked or handled,” General Mills officials said in the news release.
In addition to packaging and distributing the flour for consumers and restaurants, General Mills also sold bulk lots of it to undisclosed corporate trading partners that have used it to produce other foods. Among those foods are certain flavors of Betty Crocker brand cake mixes that General Mills itself produces.
The Betty Crocker cake mixes and products from other companies are under recall because they contain ingredients that contain the recalled flour. The Food and Drug Administration knows what companies bought the flour from General Mills, but the agency is gagged from releasing that information because of rules about corporate trade secrets.
General Mills’ Chief Operating Officer Jeff Harmening said in Monday’s news release that the company is “committed to convening experts to work with government officials to learn more and create new protocols, if needed.”
He also reminded consumers of the inherent dangers of raw flour and said “the most important thing they can do to keep safe is to not eat uncooked flour.”
The company also warns that “flour is made from wheat that is grown outdoors where bacteria are often present and the normal flour milling process does not remove these bacteria. In order for severe E. coli illness to occur from flour, all three of the following things have to happen,” according to the news release.
1. The flour a consumer is using has to contain the sub-types of E.coli that can make you sick.
2. The consumer has to eat raw dough, batter or other uncooked food made with the flour, or handle the raw dough and not wash their hands.
3. The consumer’s individual health characteristics will impact if they get sick and how severely. Some consumers have mild symptoms and others get very sick. It is not always known who will get sick and who will not.
The CDC’s update Monday afternoon stated additional outbreak victims are likely to be identified.
“Illnesses that occurred after June 29, 2016, might not yet be reported due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill and when the illness is reported to CDC. This takes an average of two to three weeks,” according to the CDC.
The most recent information from state health departments and the CDC shows illnesses started on dates ranging from Dec. 21, 2015, to June 25 this year. Ill people range in age from 1 to 95 years old, with a median age of 18.
General Mills first recalled flour on May 31, pulling back 10 million pounds. On July 1 the company expanded the recall, adding 20 million pounds.
The volume of Monday’s expansion was not included in the General Mills news release.
The new recall applies only to the specific product and date codes listed below.
13.5 ounce Gold Medal Wondra
Package UPC
000-16000-18980
Recalled Better if Used by Dates
14MAY2017PK
2lb Gold Medal All Purpose Flour
Package UPC
000-16000-10710
Recalled Better if Used by Dates
18JUN2017KC, 01AUG2017KC, 13AUG2017KC through
21AUG2017KC
10lb Gold Medal All Purpose Flour
Package UPC
000-16000-10410
Recalled Better if Used by Dates
18JUN2017KC, 01AUG2017KC
5lb Gold Medal All Purpose Flour
Package UPC
000-16000-10610
Recalled Better if Used by Dates
18JUN2017KC, 01AUG2017KC, 13AUG2017KC through
21AUG2017KC
5lb Gold Medal Self Rising Flour
Package UPC
000-16000-11610
Recalled Better if Used by Dates
27OCT2016KC
4.25lb Gold Medal All Purpose Flour
Package UPC
000-16000-12670
Recalled Better if Used by Dates
01AUG2017KC, 19AUG2017KC, 20AUG2017KC, 21AUG2017KC
5lb Gold Medal Unbleached Flour
Package UPC
000-16000-19610
Recalled Better if Used by Dates
01AUG2017KC, 14AUG2017KC, 15AUG2017KC, 16AUG2017KC,
17AUG2017KC, 19AUG2017KC, 20AUG2017KC
2lb Signature Kitchens All Purpose Flour Enriched Bleached
Package UPC
000-21130-53000
Recalled Better if Used by Dates
BB 15 AUG 2017, BB 16 AUG 2017
5lb Signature Kitchens Unbleached Flour All Purpose Enriched
Package UPC
000-21130-53022
Recalled Better if Used by Dates
BB 01 AUG 2017
Consumers are asked to throw away any flour in their possession that is part of this recall. A full list of retail products included in the flour recall since May 31, 2016 can be found at www.generalmills.com/flour.
Anyone diagnosed by a physician as having an illness related to E. coli is also urged to contact state and local public health authorities.
Consumers with questions or requesting replacement product should contact General Mills at 1-800-230-81031-800-230-8103 FREE. Consumer information can also be found at www.generalmills.com/flour.