The federal consumer protection agency has issued a warning about the possible presence of salmonella in boxes of Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal.

The warning from Profeco comes almost a week after the first reports of the contaminated cereal, manufactured and packaged in the United States, began to surface.

That country’s Food and Drug Administration alerted consumers last week after 73 people in 31 states were reported to have become sick after eating salmonella-infected Honey Smacks. The illnesses took place between March and May.

Twenty-four people were hospitalized, but there have been no fatalities.

Kellogg’s issued a voluntary recall of the brand last Wednesday.

Profeco said the 434, 652 and 866-gram boxes of the cereal are most likely to be contaminated, but authorities in Mexico and the U.S. have advised consumers to avoid the cereal altogether.

The affected products have “best before” dates between June 14, 2018 and June 14, 2019.

On its Mexico website Kellogg’s asked consumers who bought the product not to eat it, dispose of it and contact the company for an exchange with another Kellogg’s product. It said no other product was affected by the salmonella contamination.

There had been limited distribution of the Honey Smacks cereal in Mexico and several other countries, the company said.

Source: Milenio (sp)