Potential Class Actions to Watch: GM Lucky Charms Cereal Illnesses

• Author: Bryan Miller
• Posted: 2024-08-07

Although the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the "safety, efficacy, and security" of the U.S. food supply, accidents, human errors, negligence and purposeful harm still occur throughout every year and harm members of the public. Cereal manufacturers historically do well at protecting their customers on their end, but incidents do occur and have increased in recent years with supply chain and workforce disruptions. The most recent case of food-based illnesses potentially linked to a cereal involves the Lucky Charms cereal produced by General Mills.

Read on to learn more about how reported incidents of illness might result in a class action lawsuit:

What Is Happening?

The FDA recently announced that it had launched an investigation into widespread claims of illness stemming from people consuming Lucky Charms cereal. The reports began late 2021 but have increased in number ever since. Consumers have reported primarily gastrointestinal symptoms, including severe abdominal pain and associated sweating, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and exhaustion. Symptoms occur as quickly as a half hour after consumption and can take up to several hours to emerge. Many of the reports came to the FDA via the IWasPoisoned.com website. Other reports came from consumers calling General Mills directly.

Lucky Charms is a breakfast cereal that General Mills has sold to the public since 1964. It contains specially shaped, sugary-glazed toasted oat pieces and puffy marshmallow pieces known as marbits (marshmallow bits). The cereal's creator, GM product developer John Holahan, came up with the idea for Lucky Charms after mixing together the Brach company marshmallow candy Circus Peanuts and Cheerios. The slogan for the brand is "They're magically delicious." The phrase is spoken by an Irish leprechaun character known as Lucky. Over the years, GM has changed the shape of the marshmallows and even produced boxes of only marshmallows.

What Is GM Doing?

General Mills, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has indicated that they've been fully aware of the reports since 2021 and already performed their own investigation. A spokesperson for the company claims that their private investigators couldn't link Lucky Charms to the reports. They found no evidence of on-site production problems or product tampering that might explain these illnesses.

They haven't ruled out product tampering that might have taken place during transport of Lucky Charms to other sites. Yet, the problem with this type of scenario is that consumers from across the nation in every state have reported illness, which indicates that the source of the illness is likely at one or more GM manufacturing sites. They've asked members of the public who became sick after eating Lucky Charms but who didn't report symptoms to contact them immediately.

The FDA's Response

In a press release, the FDA stated that they were investigating more than 100 claims of illness dating back to last year. The founder of IWasPoisoned.com, Patrick Quade, told the media that he received more than 3,000 reports and that most of them happened in April within two weeks before the FDA's announcement. The FDA's response involves sending investigators to GM sites that manufacture, store and distribute Lucky Charms and its ingredients. The FDA has promised that it will send its final report with an outline of testing procedures to all consumers who reported illness.

An investigation typically involves looking for any evidence of hazardous chemicals or ingredients that can explain the illness. Sources of illness might include products with toxic chemicals that were used in the maintenance of machinery or the construction of the Lucky Charms packaging. They might discover that the source of illness stems from ingredients that contain harmful microorganisms or that a machine or human error accidentally included too much of an ingredient in a batch. As with most breakfast cereals, Lucky Charms is fortified with extra vitamins and minerals. Some of these nutrients can cause illness if a person consumes too much of them. Lastly, the FDA investigates tampering in which one or more people purposely altered the Lucky Charms to make people sick.

Things to Keep in Mind

No one has filed a case against General Mills about the Lucky Charms incident yet. That said, these types of events often lead to one. This isn't the first time that General Mills and GM products have been under investigation. Several class action lawsuits involving GM food products for humans and pets have occurred over the years, including lawsuits related to allegations of manufacturer advertising and manufacturing misconduct and even revelations of toxic chemicals found in food.

Lucky Charms has also been banned outside of the U.S. in several regions because administrations similar to the FDA in various countries have deemed some ingredients harmful to human health. Lucky Charms contains dyes that can adversely impact the gastrointestinal tract and cause allergic reactions. It also contains a common food chemical additive known as trisodium phosphate that's used in paint remover products and can cause poisoning and gastrointestinal harm in high doses.

This is a breaking news story with updates about the investigation and potential class action to follow.