Gerber oatmeal recalled, removed from Valley stores

McALLEN — Area grocery stores pulled Gerber organic rice and oatmeal cereals from shelves Sunday after the company issued a recall of its products.

Gerber Products Co. issued the recall last Friday because some of the products might contain lumps of cereal that do not dissolve in water or milk which could cause babies to choke. The company received complaints about choking but no reports on injury, accord-ing to a Gerber press release.

Shelley Parks, an H.E.B. spokeswoman, said the su-permarket chain received word from the company and gave all its stores an hour to pull the cereals from shelves.

H.E.B does not plan to return those cereals until it is assured the products are safe, Parks said.

Anyone who purchased the cereals at an H.E.B. store can return them for a full refund, Parks said.

Calls placed to Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Arkansas were not returned Monday. Also, Sun Harvest Farms and Globe Supermarket staff said they do not sell the Gerber products.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

The UPC code for the rice cereal is 15000 12504 and the code for the oatmeal is 15000 12502. The numbers can be found on the bottom right side of the box.