|
Only have a minute? Listen instead
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Investigators with the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention have linked Gold Medal flour as the source of a salmonella outbreak, officials say.
In a news release sent Monday, the CDC said interviews with sick people and laboratory data show that the flour was contaminated with salmonella, which has made 13 people sick in 12 states, not including Texas.
“All six people who remembered the brand of flour they used reported Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour,” the CDC said in the release. ”(The) FDA found the outbreak strain in Gold Medal flour collected from a General Mills facility in Missouri.”
On Friday, General Mills announced the recall of the following products, which have “better if used by” dates of March 27, 2024, and March 28, 2024:
>> 5 pound bag of Gold Medal Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (Package Universal Product Code, or UPC: 000-16000-19610);
>> 10 pound bag of Gold Medal Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (Package UPC: 000-16000-19580);
>> 2 pound bag of Gold Medal Bleached All-Purpose Flour (Package UPC: 000-16000-10710);
>> 5 pound bag of Gold Medal Bleached All-Purpose Flour (Package UPC: 000-16000-10610).
The CDC said a total of 13 people were infected with the outbreak strain of salmonella. None of the infections were reported in Texas. Furthermore, three people have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been reported.
“The true number of sick people is likely higher than the number reported, and the outbreaks may not be limited to the states with known illnesses,” The CDC said. “This is because some people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella.”
If you have any of the flour bags that have been recalled, the CDC urges you to either throw away the product or return it to where you bought it. Do not eat, sell or bake with the flour, and make sure to wash surfaces and containers that may have touched the flour with hot soapy water or a dishwasher, the CDC said.
People infected with salmonella develop diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps from six hours to six days after being exposed to the bacteria, the CDC said. The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment.
However, the CDC said that in some people, salmonella may be so severe that the patient is hospitalized. The infection could spread from the intestines to the bloodstream, then to other parts of the body, the CDC noted. Children younger than five, adults 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to have severe illness.
