General Mills recalls frozen pizzas over E.coli fears

General Mills, Inc., the world’s leading breakfast cereal company, announced Thursday that it is voluntary recalling about 5 million frozen meat pizzas sold under the brand names Totino's and Jeno's in the United States because of the possibility that they may be contaminated with E.coli 0157:H7, a potentially lethal bacterium.

Eight types of Totino's brand frozen pizza and three types of Jeno's brand frozen pizza with pepperoni topping, or pepperoni in combination with other toppings are included in the recall.

The recalled popular frozen pizza brands have been tied to 21 reported cases of E.coli 0157:H7 illness in ten states, occurred between July 20 and October 10, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Nine of Twenty-one people became ill after eating Totino’s or Jeno’s pepperoni pizzas, which are reportedly the country’s best selling economy frozen pizza brands.

Eight of the twenty-one people have gotten sick in Tennessee. Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin and South Dakota states also reported the cases of illness.

General Mills said it has issued the recall as a precaution. "We took action on that basis as a precaution, because of the possibility that a link might exist," said General Mills spokesman Tom Forsythe. "However, to date we have found no E.coli in our plant, and we have found no E. coli in our products."

Since July 1 the company has distributed more than 120 million Totino's and Jeno's pizzas nationwide. Nearly 414,000 cases of pizza products are currently in stores. Twelve pizzas are packed in each case.

The affected frozen pizzas were produced in company’s Wellston, Ohio, plant and distributed nationwide since July. These pepperoni pizzas bear the establishment number "EST. 7750" inside the USDA mark of inspection as well as "best if used by" date of "02 APR 08 WS," the suburban Minneapolis-based company said.

The recall list includes Totino's pepperoni; classic pepperoni; pepperoni trio; combination sausage & pepper; three meat sausage, Canadian style bacon & pepperoni, and supreme sausage & pepperoni pizza with green peppers and onions which are marketed as "The Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza". Also, Jeno's pepperoni, combination sausage and pepperoni, and supreme sausage and pepperoni with green peppers and onion of Jeno's "Crisp 'N Tasty Pizza" also included in the list.

The company is urging people, if they have the recalled pizzas in their freezer, to throw them away or take them for a full refund at the grocery store.

One of the chief culprits behind food borne diseases, Escherichia coli O157:H7 was first discovered in 1982. E. coli is known to release a deadly toxin that causes the disease. It spreads through ground beef, bean sprouts and leafy vegetables and is characterized by the symptoms of stomach cramps, dehydration and bloody diarrhea. The infection generally clears up in 5 to 10 days time.

However serious infection is known to cause kidney failure and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a disease that affects mostly children under the age of 10, but also may affect the elderly as well as persons with other illnesses.

Shares of General Mills were down $1.08, or 1.87%, at $56.65 in trading late on Thursday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).