A Gold Medal Salmonella flour recall has been issued by General Mills. Is this recall associated with the raw flour Salmonella outbreak announced last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? We don’t know yet.
The recall is for two, five, and 10-pound bags of Gold Medal Bleached and Unbleached All Purpose Flours. The flours have “better if used by” dates of March 27, 2024 and March 28, 2024. The five pound bag of Gold Medal Unbleached Flour has the UPC number 000-16000-19610. The 10 pound bag of Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose Flour has the UPC number 000-16000-19580. The two pound bag of Gold Medal Bleached Flour has the UPC number 000-16000-10710. And the five pound bag of Gold Medal Bleached All Purpose Flour has the UPC number 000-16000-10610. The recall notice does remind consumers that they should “refrain from consuming any raw products made from flour.”
The flour is contaminated with Salmonella Infantis. General Mills discovered Salmonella Infantis when sampling the five pound product. And the outbreak, which has sickened at least 12 people in 11 states, was caused by Salmonella Infantis; no link has been established yet. The outbreak investigation has not been updated by the CDC since March 30, 2023.
In the outbreak, the case count by state is: California (1), Illinois (2), Iowa (1), Minnesota (1), Missouri (1), Nebraska (1), New York (1), Ohio (1), Oregon (1), Tennessee (1), and Virginia (1). As of March 30, 2023, illness onset dates range from December 6, 2022 to February 13, 2023. The patient range in age from 12 to 81 years. Of 12 people who spoke to investigators, three have been hospitalized, for a hospitalization rate of 25%, which is higher than the typical rate for this type of outbreak.
Remember that flour is a raw agricultural product, even though it doesn’t look like it. And all raw agricultural products can be contaminated with pathogens.
If you have any of the recalled flours in your home, do not use them even if you plan to cook or bake with the flour. The possibility of cross-contamination is too great. And flour drifts all over the kitchen when you work with it. You can throw the flour away in a sealed package inside a secure trash can, or you can take it back to the store where you bought it for a full refund.
