FDA is investigating hundreds of posts about stomach upset after eating Lucky Charms

The Food and Drug Administration said it was looking into reports of possible stomach upset associated with Lucky Charms cereal.

Although the agency has not issued an official warning, many people have reported feeling nauseous after eating breakfast cereal in posts on its consumer-safe website. iwaspoisoned.com.

Since April 1, more than 1,000 people across the US have posted about digestive symptoms they believe are related to Lucky Charms, according to Patrick Quade, the site’s founder and CEO. Quade says this is the largest reported surge related to any product he has seen on the site.

Many reports mention associated symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps, and green stools.

An FDA official said: “The FDA is aware of the reports and is looking into the matter.

Racquel Ashman, who lives in Georgia, said she and her 7-year-old daughter, Olivia, recently fell ill after eating Lucky Charms. Olivia had a headache and stomach ache on March 29, a day after eating the cereal.

“She was vomiting all over the place. It was a mess. She had diarrhea. She complained of stomach ache,” said Ashman.

Initially, Ashman said, she did not link her daughter’s illness to the cereal. Then on Saturday, she ate Lucky Charms from the same box.

“On Monday when I woke up, I started to feel absolutely terrible,” she said. “I had cramps in my stomach. It was worse than my labor. I was so confused. I just vomited. I couldn’t hold anything back. I also had diarrhea. I kept getting chills. “.

Their duration of illness and overlapping symptoms led Ashman to conclude that the cereal likely made both her and Olivia sick. She posted about it on iwaspoisoned.com.

The website allows anyone to report symptoms and make notes where they believe the illness originated. Articles are reviewed and sorted but not individually investigated. Iwaspoisoned.com is one of a number of community sourcing sites owned by parent company IWP Health Inc.

Quade said he first noticed the unusual increase in Lucky Charms reports in July 2021, and the number of reports has remained above average since then.

“This absolutely warrants a quick further investigation to see what’s really going on here, because this is absolutely warranted,” said Martin Bucknavage, a senior associate in food safety at Penn State University. Something is definitely not right.”

But General Mills, the company that makes Lucky Charms, says it doesn’t believe the cereal is the cause of stomach problems.

“Food safety is our top priority. We take consumer concerns reported via third-party websites very seriously. After a thorough internal investigation, we do not found any evidence that these claims were caused by our product,” said Andrea Williamson, General Spokesperson for Mills. “We encourage consumers to please share any concerns directly with General Mills to ensure they can be addressed appropriately.”

The FDA has also not confirmed that Lucky Charms cause any foodborne illness.

The FDA has its own system for reporting food safety issues, but the agency says it’s only counted 41 Lucky Charms-related reports since 2004 and only three by 2021.

The FDA’s Food and Cosmetics Information Center, the agency responsible for responding to questions about food safety, did not receive any calls regarding Lucky Charms, the official said. The FDA declined to provide more details about its investigation.

Maybe some stomach problems are just norovirus, the bug that causes stomach flu, because data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outbreaks have been and are increasing from January.

It’s unusual for cereals to be linked to so many reports of stomach problems, Bucknavage said. While a full FDA or CDC investigation is needed to determine the root cause, he speculated that chemical contamination could be at play. That’s because some accounts on iwaspoisoned.com say that symptoms appear within hours of ingesting Lucky Charms. Bacteria such as salmonella or E. coli do not usually cause illness for 24 to 48 hours after entering the body.

However, Ashman said she didn’t get sick right away, and her symptoms lasted several days, which is related to a bacterial infection, Bucknavage said.

Ashman returned to work on Wednesday after two days of sick leave.

“I can’t even hold my phone or use the computer long enough to do anything productive,” she said, adding, “this has been the worst week of my life in a while.”

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here