CDC: Do Not Eat Any Kellogg’s Honey Smacks Cereal

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning consumers not to eat any Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal because it has been linked to a multistate outbreak of Salmonella infections.

Health officials say Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal is the likely source of Salmonella Mbandaka that has sickened at least 100 people in 33 states, including 30 people that required hospitalization.

The illnesses started on March 3, 2018. An investigation found that 55 of 65 people interviewed reported eating cold cereal, with 43 people specifically reported eating Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal.

This led health officials in several states to collect Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal from retail locations and ill people’s homes for laboratory testing. That testing identified the outbreak strain of Salmonella Mbandaka in a sample of unopened Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal collected from a retail location in California. Testing also identified the outbreak strain in samples of leftover Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal collected from the homes of ill people in Montana, New York, and Utah.

On June 14, 2018, Kellogg Company voluntarily recalled 15.3 oz. and 23 oz. packages of Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal with code dates JUN 14, 2018 through JUN 14, 2019 after the company was contacted by the Food & Drug Administration and CDC regarding reported illnesses. The company said it launched an investigation with the third-party manufacturer who produces Honey Smacks and that no other Kellogg products are impacted by the recall.

But health officials now warn not to eat ANY Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal, regardless of package date.

“Do not eat Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal of any size package or with any ‘best if used by’ date,” the CDC said on Thursday, July 12, 2018.

Retailers should not sell the cereal. Restaurants should not serve the cereal.

The CDC advised consumers to throw away any Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal, and that if they store it in a container other that the retail box, to wash the container with warm, soapy water before using it again to remove harmful germs that could contaminate other food.

The actual number of people sick from the cereal by be higher, as illnesses that occurred after June 19, 2018 might not yet be reported. This is due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill and when their illness is reported, which takes about two to four weeks. No fatalities have been reported.

Symptoms of Salmonella infection include diarrhea that may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized, fever and abdominal cramps. Children under five years of age, adults over 65, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop severe illness from the infection. Illness usually lasts four to seven days.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone who believes they have become ill from eating Kellogg’s Honey Smacks should contact their local health department or the CDC at 1-800-232-4636.