Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday announced another Tylenol recall due to a musty moldy odor linked to a trace chemical.
The company's McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit is recalling one product lot of Tylenol Extra Strength Caplets made in February 2009 and distributed in the U.S. The recall totals 60,912 bottles, each of which has 225 caplets.
McNeil said it has received a small number of reports about the pills' odor, which has been linked in past J&J recalls to the presence of trace amounts of "2,4,6-tribromoanisole." TBA is a byproduct of a chemical preservative sometimes used on shipping pallets.
Besides causing an unpleasant odor, TBA has been associated with temporary and non-serious gastrointestinal symptoms.
Since September 2009, New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson has had about two dozen recalls of prescription and nonprescription medicines, replacement hips, contact lenses and diabetes test strips, including tens of millions of bottles of children's and adult Tylenol and Motrin.
The reasons have ranged from metal and other contaminants, to nauseating odors and packaging issues. Joint replacement systems so painful they required corrective surgery were also recalled, as were contact lenses that irritated eyes, along with potentially contaminated syringes full of the antipsychotic drug Invega.
The high-profile lapses have tugged at J&J's revenue, profit and stock price, as well as its once-stellar reputation. J&J has said that it has inspected more than 100 plants around the world and invested millions to improve the quality of its manufacturing and satisfy federal regulators, who have three of its factories under scrutiny.
The product lot number for the recalled Tylenol Extra Strength product can be found on the side of the bottle label — it is ABA619 300450444271.
Customers should stop using the product from the lot immediately and contact McNeil at www.tylenol.com or by calling 1-888-222-6036 for instructions on receiving a refund or product coupon.
