Yet another Tylenol recall underway

Nearly a year after a “musty” smell precipitated a large scale recall of several medications, drugmaker Johnson & Johnson is recalling a variety of Tylenol again for the same concern.

The FDA criticized the manufacturer back in January for being slow to recall the products after the issue first surfaced:

“When something smells bad, literally and figuratively, you aggressively investigate and solve the problem,” said Deborah Autor, director of FDA’s compliance office.

“The company should have acted faster,” Autor said. “All companies have a responsibility to ensure high quality, safety and effectiveness of their products and protect consumers.”

Further recalls were announced in May due to manufacturing defects discovered in medications for infants and children, and then in July because of the same unpleasant odor that sickened consumers in the first round of recalls. The company announced last night that they were recalling certain lots of Tylenol 8 Hour Caplets because of the musty odor, attributed to a chemical called 2,4,6-tribromoanisole and believed to be transferred to the pills from shipping pallets.

The latest Tylenol recall affects nearly 130,000 units of the medication, but consumer risk from the affected product is said to be fairly low.