General Mills Recalls Gold Medal Flour Due to Possible E. Coli Contamination

On September 16, General Mills announced another recall of their five-pound bags of Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose Flour due to possible E. coli contamination. The possible presence of E. coli was detected during sampling of the five-pound bags. General Mills has voluntarily issued the recall out of an abundance of caution—luckily, there haven’t been any reports of illness related to the flour.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Only one date code is included in the recall, so check to see if your bag of flour has a “better if used by” date of September 6, 2020, which might be printed as “06SEP2020KC”. You can also check the package’s UPC code, which should be 016000 196100 on the recalled bags.

The recall only affects five-pound bags of Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose Flour, so any other type or size of flour you have from General Mills should be fine. If you have any of the recalled flour, General Mills recommends throwing it away, but you can visit their website to get a coupon for a replacement bag.

Related: Make Sure You Wash Your Avocados—1 in 5 May Have Listeria on the Peel

Previously, on January 23, General Mills issued a recall for five-pound bags of Unbleached All Purpose Flour for possible salmonella contamination. The voluntary recall is bags of flour with the UPC number 000-16000-19610-0, and a “better if used by” date of April 20, 2020.

General Mills hasn’t announced how many bags or pounds of flour are included in the most recent recall, but they’re reminding consumers that flour isn’t a “ready-to-eat” ingredient. Any recipe you make with flour needs to be cooked or baked before eating, because E. coli and salmonella are killed by heat. And yes, that includes cookie dough, even egg-free recipes.

To avoid cross-contamination, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also recommends properly washing your hands and any surfaces or utensils that have come into contact with raw flour or dough while you’re cooking. And if you’re craving edible cookie dough, be sure to use a flour that’s safe to eat raw, like almond or coconut flour.