Malt-O-Meal recalls rice wheat cereals on salmonella risk

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Malt-0-Meal is voluntarily recalling unsweetened puffed rice and unsweetened puffed wheat cereals after it found salmonella in a product produced on March 24, 2008, it said in a weekend statement.

The company on Saturday said it had no reports of resulting illnesses but was recalling all unsweetened puffed rice and puffed wheat cereals with use-by dates ranging from April 8, 2008, to March 18, 2009, as it found that other products may have been exposed.

The recalled product is distributed nationally under the Malt-O-Meal brand as well as private-label brands including Acme, America's Choice, Food Club, Giant, Hannaford, Jewel, Laura Lynn, Pathmark, Shaw's, ShopRite, Tops and Weis Quality, the company said.

Privately held Malt-O-Meal said it found the source of the salmonella and applied corrective measures to ensure against a reoccurrence.

It said that the products affected by the recall represent less than one-half of 1 percent of its annual production of ready-to-eat cereal and that all other Malt-O-Meal products were safe for continued sale and consumption.

Salmonella may cause symptoms including fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain and in rare circumstances can result in some potentially life threatening illnesses, the company said.

Acme and Jewel are supermarket chains owned by Supervalu. Pathmark Stores are owned by Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew, Editing by Maureen Bavdek)