General Mills recalls Cheerios over gluten concerns

General Mills is voluntarily recalling about 1.8 million boxes of Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios produced at its Lodi, Calif., operation that were labeled gluten-free but contain wheat.

"In an isolated incident involving purely human error, wheat flour was inadvertently introduced into our gluten-free oat flour system at Lodi," Jim Murphy, president of General Mills' cereal division, said in a blog post.

"That error resulted in an undeclared allergen, wheat, being present in products labeled as gluten-free at levels above the FDA gluten-free standard," Murphy said as he apologized for the error.

Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios produced at other plants were not affected, the company noted.

Because the recall relates to gluten as an undeclared allergen, the recall is considered Class I, which means there's a "reasonable probability" that it could trigger "serious adverse health consequences or death" for some people who are allergic and exposed, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The recall includes four days of production of original (yellow box) Cheerios and 13 days of production of Honey Nut Cheerios from July. Consumers can call General Mills Consumer Services at 1-800-775-8370 if they have other questions.