On October 5, 2015, General Mills announced a recall of 1.8 million boxes of Cheerios, including Honey Nut, that claimed to be gluten free. The recall is taking place because many of the boxes of Cheerios that say they’re gluten free actually aren’t.

For those who do not know what gluten is, gluten is a substance present in cereal grains, especially wheat, that is responsible for the elastic texture of dough.

“I feel like it’s a good thing General Mills recalled the supposedly gluten free Cheerios,” Ada Torres, senior, said. “Many people think gluten free food isn’t cool, but some people need it in their lives.”

Six percent of Americans are negatively affected by this recall. Those six percent are sensitive to gluten, causing bad symptoms to take place. One percent of Americans, however, can have permanent damage done if this recall didn’t occur, due to gluten allergies.

“I think it’s ridiculous that the Cheerios weren’t what they perceived to be,” Ben Lipka, junior, said. “If someone who’s gluten intolerant would eat them, something really bad could happen to them.”

General Mills already produces a number of gluten free products. They wanted to add their best selling cereal to the list. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be done.

However, not all boxes of [Honey Nut] Cheerios were recalled. Only specific containers were recalled. It all depends on when the “best if used by” date is. If the date is between July 12-25, 2016 for the Honey Nut, the box is not gluten free. Same with plain Cheerios that are date between July 14 and 17, 2016.