J&J recalls 13 million boxes of Rolaids

Thursday, December 16, 2010 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: Johnson & Johnson, Rolaids, health news

(NaturalNews) Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has announced its 14th major drug recall this year so far, this time for contaminated Rolaids products. According to an announcement from McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the J&J division that produces Rolaids, the company is voluntarily recalling 13 million packages of Rolaids Extra Strength Plus Gas Softchews and Rolaids Multi-Symptom Plus Anti-Gas Softchews because they contain "metal and wood particles" and other "foreign materials."

The company had been receiving adverse event reports pertaining to the products that include vomiting, gum and tooth injury, and abnormal taste, which prompted it to initiate the recall. Despite this, though, the company still made the seemingly contradictory declaration that the "risk of serious adverse health consequences is remote."

According to an ABC News report on the recall, the two Rolaids products being recalled were produced by a third-party manufacturer, but a McNeil spokeswoman refused to indicate the identity and location of the facility. Since the company operates facilities in developing nations like India, however, it is likely that production of the tainted products took place at such a facility.

The company has ceased production of the two specific recalled products as well as Rolaids Extra Strength Softchews in order to conduct an investigation into the cause of contamination. McNeil has also instructed consumers to stop using the recalled products immediately.

A quick browse of the McNeil Product Recall page (http://www.mcneilproductrecall.com/page.jhtm...) indicates that literally hundreds of J&J products have been recalled this year for various problems. Everything from allergy and pain medicines to children's cold and cough formulas have been recalled for improper labeling, foreign materials and alcohol content, among other things.

Sources for this story include:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/recall...

http://www.rolaids.com/page.jhtml?id=rolaids...