May 1, 2023 – General Mills is recalling several package sizes of its Gold Medal flour because it may be contaminated with the bacteria salmonella.
The company announced Friday that the recall covers 2-pound, 5-pound, and 10-pound bags of Gold Medal Unbleached and Bleached All-Purpose Flour with specific “better if used by” dates printed on the bags. The “better by” dates are March 27, 2024, and March 28, 2024. No other Gold Medal Flour products are impacted by the recall.
The company asked anyone with affected products to dispose of them, and it offered a toll-free phone number to call to talk to the company’s consumer relations department. The phone number is 800-230-8103.
The company said salmonella “was discovered during sampling of the five-pound bag product.”
The FDA posted the voluntary recall notice from General Mills on the government’s recall website. It’s unclear if the recall is related to the CDC’s alert in March warning of an outbreak involving 12 cases of salmonella-related illnesses. Some of those cases were linked to people eating raw flour, in things like dough or cookie batter. The 12 cases spanned 11 states, and three people were hospitalized.
A salmonella infection can cause diarrhea, fever, and belly pain. The symptoms typically occur as soon as 6 hours or as late as 6 days after someone is infected. The symptoms can last 4 to 7 days. Salmonella bacteria are killed by heat from cooking products made with flour, General Mills noted in its recall notice, adding that “all surfaces, hands and utensils should be properly cleaned after contact with flour or dough.”