CDC Warns of Salmonella in Kellogg’s Honey Smacks Cereal
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention advises consumers and retailers not to eat, serve, or sell Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal, which has been linked to a multistate outbreak of Salmonella infections. Read the investigation update: https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/mbandaka-06-18/index.html
Key Points:
CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration continue to investigate a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Mbandaka infections.
The outbreak has sickened 100 people from 33 states as of July 12, 2018. Thirty people have been hospitalized; no deaths have been reported.
Since the last update on June 14, 2018, 27 ill people have been added to this outbreak.
Two more states reported ill people: Colorado and Florida.
Laboratory testing identified the outbreak strain of Salmonella in unopened and opened boxes of Honey Smacks cereal collected from retail locations and from ill people’s homes.
- The Kellogg Company recalled Honey Smacks cereals on June 14, 2018. However, the FDA reports that recalled Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal is still being offered for sale.
- Do not eat any Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal. This advice applies to Honey Smacks in any size package and with any “best if used by” date.
If you have recalled Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal:
Throw out the cereal or return it for a refund.
If you store cereal that looks like Kellogg’s Honey Smacks in a container without the packaging and don’t remember the brand or type, throw it away. Kellogg’s Honey Smacks is an oval-shaped, sweetened puffed wheat cereal with a golden-brown color.
Thoroughly wash the container with warm, soapy water before using it again, to remove harmful germs that could contaminate other food.
Illnesses in this outbreak started on dates ranging from March 3, 2018 to July 2, 2018.
People get sick from Salmonella 12 to 72 hours after swallowing the germ and experience diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps.
Most people recover within a week, but some illnesses can last longer and be more severe.
This investigation is ongoing and CDC will provide more information as it becomes available.