The voluntary recall comes just 24 hours after Kellogg recalled certain batches of Keebler, Special K, Murray, Famous Amos and Mother’s products for the same reason.
And that followed recalls by Frito-Lay, Hostess and CSM Bakery Solutions after supplier Grain Craft alerted the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) that peanut residue had been discovered in its soft red winter wheat flour. The flour was recalled.
Mars said the products - including certain batches of Combos Cheddar Cheese Pretzel, Combos Cheddar Cheese Cracker, Combos Pizzeria Pretzel, Combos Sweet and Salt Caramel Pretzel, Combos Pepperoni Cracker and Combos Buffalo Pretzel - may have been produced using the recalled Grain Craft flour.
Distributed throughout the US
The majority of the Combos products were distributed throughout the US, with some shipped to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Virgin Islands-St Thomas, Antigua, Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. The affected products have a best-before date ranging from March 2017 to April 2017 on the back of the package, directly below which is a 10-digit manufacturing code (see table below).
Consumers with severe peanut allergies have been advised by the US Food & Drugs Administration (FDA) to avoid the recalled Mars products. The FDA added that the amount of peanut exposure from use of the flours and affected products is low and not expected to cause adverse health effects in the “vast majority” of peanut allergic consumers.
Mars Chocolate has received no reports of illness related to the products covered by the recall.
The FDA said it was working with companies that received flour from Grain Craft containing undeclared peanut residue to determine if their products pose a safety hazard and need to be recalled.