Slim-Fast recall: the latest news

If you have any Slim-Fast shakes in your pantry, it's time to toss 'em. The company has announced a nationwide recall of all flavors and varieties of its canned meal-replacement shakes. That's "due to the possibility of contamination with Bacillus cereus, a micro-organism, which may cause diarrhea and possibly nausea and/or vomiting," according to the press release. In short? Food poisoning.

Unilever, the maker of Slim-Fast products, says it discovered the problem during quality testing, and that it had received a handful of complaints from consumers. So far, there have been no reports of serious illness. The company says Slim-Fast shakes will be back on shelves as soon as the manufacturing problem is resolved.

This all comes at a bad time for Slim-Fast, just as we're heading into dieting and New Year's resolution season. In our report on weight-loss plans, the Slim-Fast program, which includes the shakes plus other meal-replacement diet foods, is identified as a decent short-term diet solution if you can stick with it. The program relies on simple calorie reduction to help you lose weight.