Boxes of General Mills’ Lucky Charms cereal are seen on a shelf at a Costco Warehouse in Robinson Township, Pa. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating scores of reports from consumers who say they fell ill after consuming Lucky Charms.
The FDA said it has received more than 100 reports since the start of the year from people alleging the popular breakfast cereal caused nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. A food safety website has separately documented thousands of similar complaints dating back to at least 2021.
“The FDA takes seriously any reports of possible adulteration of a food that may also cause illnesses or injury,” FDA told The Post in an emailed statement, noting that “isolated incidents” and “complaints of a less serious nature” are monitored and “may be used during a future inspection of a company to help the FDA identify problem areas in a production plant.”
Iwaspoisoned.com, a real-time consumer reporting platform for food safety issues, meanwhile, shows that Lucky Charms complaints have been trending since late 2021. But they’ve surged in recent weeks, with reports surpassing 3,000. Complaints have come from every U.S. state and Canada.
“Food safety is our top priority. We take the consumer concerns reported via a third-party website very seriously. Through our continuing internal investigations, we have not found any evidence of consumer illness linked to the consumption of Lucky Charms,” Andrea Williamson, General Mills spokesperson, told The Post in an email. “We encourage consumers to please share any concerns directly with General Mills to ensure they can be appropriately addressed.”
The Minneapolis-based maker of Cheerios, Pillsbury, Yoplait and other top food brands reported net sales of more than $18 billion in 2021 and has a market cap of nearly $42.7 billion.
The stream of reports on iwaspoisoned.com is remarkably consistent, with consumers from coast to coast complaining of severe stomach issues. Many reports came from worried parents and grandparents.
“My daughter became very sick. 102.7 temp, vomiting, stomach pain and chills. She isn’t able to keep sips of water down. I asked her about everything she had eaten and drank in the past 24 hours and couldn’t figure it out until I saw the news report,” one consumer from Grand Forks, N.D., posted over the weekend.
“Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and horrible belching with an awful taste, almost chemical. Household of 4 all experienced the same thing,” a consumer from Defiance, Ohio, reported.
“I bought Lucky charms for my son and grandson. They both had nausea and stomach pains. We all ate the same except the Lucky Charms. They ate it several days in a row as a afternoon snack and would get these symptoms,” another consumer from Blairsville, Ga., said. “No more Lucky Charms and they are both ok now.”
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