More people have been added to the patient list in an outbreak of “adverse events” linked to dry cereal, according to the FDA.
The agency is now reporting thousands of complaints of what it is describing as “adverse events” after eating an unnamed dry cereal. Although the cereal is not identified in the Food and Drug Administration’s outbreak update, a spokesperson has confirmed that it is investigating complaints about Lucky Charms breakfast cereal.
More than 1,300 people have described instances of stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and colorful stools after they or their children consumed the sugary cereal, via the site’s report form.
Most of those reports have come in April 2022, but stories of stomach troubles from Lucky Charms eaters have been trending on the site since late 2021, founder and CEO Patrick Quade told NBC.
On Friday, Quade told the outlet that it was “the biggest surge of reports related to any single product” in the history of the consumer-led food safety site, which got off the ground in 2009.
More reports poured in shortly after since Michael Che and Colin Jost mentioned the claims of Lucky Charms-related illness in their latest Weekend Update segment of Saturday Night Live. Many users described a history of stomach upset and said they connected it to the cereal after hearing of other reports.
Many people write their complaints on the iwaspoisoned.com website directed to Lucky Charms, according to AWM:
On iwaspoisoned.com, several hundred people have reported that they’ve gotten so sick after eating Lucky Charms that they started vomiting or suffering from nausea or diarrhea.
An Ohio resident wrote, “This is actually my second time experiencing symptoms after eating Lucky Charms, and I am certain it is the cause.”
Other complaints included the following:
“Having extreme abdominal pains time, I am holding on to the remaining cereal left in the Box and hoping to get it tested soon!” a Lucky Charms customer wrote.
“My son ate the Lucky Charms, and later that day, he was ill. It comes out of nowhere lasted for a couple of days,” wrote a critic from North Carolina.
“I had Lucky Charms for breakfast. After that, about an hour or so later, I got diarrhea and bad gas,” wrote one person from Pittsburgh, PA.
Other complaints included one from a Rochester, NY resident who wrote:
“Ate Lucky Charms for breakfast on 4/12 and 4/13. I started feeling very nauseous and bloated to the point where it felt I was in a big bear hug. On 4/15 continued to feel nauseous, and then diarrhea began. First, it looked like chicken noodle soup. Then it was like I had taken preparation for a colonoscopy! Looked like muddy water was gushing out.”
Patrick Quade, the founder of iwaspoisoned.com, claimed that his website had received more than 3,000 reports from people allegedly sickened by Lucky Charms.
“We have had an unusually high number of reports for this product, which is why we have reached out to the FDA,” he said.
There’s been no official recall of the cereal from General Mills or the FDA, although both parties have launched their own investigations.
Watch the video report here: CBS/Youtube
