The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating unverified reports from consumers who said they became ill after eating Lucky Charms cereal.
A spokesperson for the agency said in a statement "the FDA is aware of reports and is looking into the matter."
"The FDA takes seriously any reports of possible adulteration of a food that may also cause illnesses or injury," the statement read.
The investigation comes after hundreds of people reported on iwaspoisoned.com, a website where users report food illnesses in unverified claims, that they had become ill after eating Lucky Charms cereal over the last several months. Several reported nausea, vomiting and stomach pains. But the FDA said its own reporting system received only three "adverse event reports" in 2021, and only one of those appeared to be related to the complaints on iwaspoisoned.com. Since 2004, the agency said a total of 41 complaints surrounding the cereal have been received.
General Mills, the company that makes the cereal, said an internal investigation into the recent claims found no evidence that the cereal was behind the illnesses. There has been no official recall on the product as of Thursday.
“Food safety is our top priority," Andrea Williamson, a General Mills spokesperson, said in a statement to NBC 5. "We take the consumer concerns reported via a third-party website very seriously. After a thorough internal investigation, we have not found any evidence that these complaints are attributed to our products. We encourage consumers to please share any concerns directly with General Mills to ensure they can be appropriately addressed.”
The FDA said as part of its investigation, an investigator may visit those who filed complaints, collect product samples and possibly conduct inspections.
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