A CDC food safety alert regarding a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to flour has been posted. Investigators have identified Gold Medal flour as the source of this outbreak. Interviews with sick people and laboratory data show that Gold Medal flour contaminated with Salmonella has made people sick. All six people who remembered the brand of flour they used reported Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour, and FDA found the outbreak strain in Gold Medal flour collected from a General Mills facility in Missouri. On April 28, 2023, General Mills recalled the following products, which have “better if used by” dates of March 27, 2024, and March 28, 2024. A total of 13 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella have been reported from 12 states. Three people have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.
Do not eat, sell, or bake with recalled flour. Throw it away or return it to where you bought it. Wash surfaces and containers that may have touched the recalled flour using hot soapy water or a dishwasher.
Most people infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps 6 hours to 6 days after being exposed to the bacteria. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most people recover without treatment. In some people, the illness may be so severe that the patient is hospitalized. Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and then to other parts of the body. Children younger than 5, adults 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to have severe illness.
