IMPORTANT: McNeil Product Recall
If you are like me, then you most likely have a HUGE stockpile of Zyrtec, Tylenol, Benadryl etc… if so, please read below for important information on the recent McNeil recall.
What items are being recalled?
Why is McNeil recalling these items?
McNeil Consumer Healthcare is initiating this voluntary recall because some of these products may not meet required quality standards. This recall is NOT being undertaken on the basis of adverse medical events. However, as a precautionary measure, parents and caregivers should NOT administer these products to their children.
What should I do if I purchased these products and currently have them in my medicine cabinet?
*Do NOT return recalled product(s) to retail stores.
*McNeil is offering 2 options for consumers who have purchased products affected by this recall: You can receive either a refund for the average retail price of the product or a coupon for a free replacement (s) when the product becomes available again. Click here to request a refund or high value coupon (Note: If you have more than 6 affected products, you will be required to complete 2 forms)
*To process your refund or coupon you will need the NDC number and Lot number from the product that has been recalled. The NDC number can be found above the brand name on the label of the bottle. The Lot number can also be found on the label and is usually placed vertically on the label.
What do I do with the recalled medication(s) that I currently have in my possession?
*Unless instructed otherwise, do NOT dispose of unused medicines by emptying them into your sink, toilet, or storm drain.
*Some states may have regulations regarding pharmacy or community take-back programs in which they may receive and dispose of returned unused drugs for patients. Contact your local pharmacy or local authority to determine if it participates in such programs.
*For information on disposing of over-the-counter medications, click here.
What do I do if I have more questions?
For further questions, click here or contact the Consumer Care Center at 1-888-222-6036 available Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Time, and Saturday-Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time.
(Thanks, Melissa, Managing His Money, & The Frugal Find!)
I heard about this last week and hurried to check my medicine cabinets..I had 3 BOTTLES of almost finished medication, infant tylenol infant motrin and benedryl I had been giving my little ones for months! These products are fairly old, it is sad that so many medications have been consumed that are not safe for children..I’m sticking with the natural products from now on!
I’m in the same boat as you, I have a 7 month old who is teething and has been given this product numerous times, not happy about this~!!
This is the second time in just a few months that Tylenol has been recalled! Scary to think that the medicine we buy for our little ones isn’t as safe as we think.
I know!
Walgreens was nice enough to give me a store credit for these items that I purchased there. I got them when they were on sale a while back. they had not been used, I had one that was opened. The manager took them all back and gave me a credit for the lowest sale price within the past few months. I was fine with this because I know I would have never bought them at full price anyway. Even without my receipt. He gave me $5.99 per bottle. I was pleased. Great customer service WAGS
None of my products matched those numbers. I hope I’m looking in the right place.
You know, I usually buy Target or Walgreens generics when I buy these products. Not only are they cheaper, they don’t get recalled multiple times a year.
I had a lot of generics in my medicine too. They are usually cheaper and I don’t remember any recalls in the recent past.
i was wondering about the generic brands cause i have been giving my little on some every 4 hrs after her shots!!!
It’s just the brand name- generics are made by different companies and their product is not affected.
I had one bottle of the infant Tylenol. The box was opened, but I had never opened the actual Tylenol itself. I filled out the form hopefully I will get a refund. Scary to think of all these recalls and how unsafe products are latey!
I had 4 bottles and I was just giving them to my kids right before the recall came out for their colds. Scary! I asked the lady I spoke with if I should be worried. She said no, but really, what is she going to say?
These recalls annoy me to no end. How do they NOT get it right? I mean come on … not enough or too much active ingredients? Potential particles? And, how does it take SO long for them to figure it out?
It is so infuriating from a safety and financial standpoint. All of my tylenol, benedryl and motrin products were impacted by this recall. I went out to the stores on Saturday – BRU had removed all recalled items from their shelves. When I went to Target – they had not. I looked up all the products and sure enough they had recalled items on the shelves.
I went to the manager and told her. She gave me attitude and said that if they were recalled they would pop up on her handy little scanner. I said, well here – look at the website of the recalled items and double check the numbers for yourself. She agreed they were recalled. So I went and did my shopping – at the end 30-45 minutes later – the medicine was still all on the shelf and no one was around nor did it appear they were working on removing it (I mean – a hand swipe into a cart would have taken care of the problem – worse yet, a young mom picked up a bottle and put it in her cart).
Ugh. Rant over! Thanks for the information on refund/coupons – I called on the day of the recall and was told that they didn’t have any process in place for refunds. So I’m glad they do now.
Wow, the product should have been pulled I totally agree. I worked at Target, and atleast I can say that if an item has been recalled the register will lock out when it is scanned, it will not allow the product to be sold. While it shouldn’t have been there, atleast it couldn’t actually have been sold.
Brandy, I work in pharmaceuticals, and it is not as easy of a process as one may think. We have every intention of putting out the highest quality product. No company wants to go through a recall. Most recalls are voluntary and a precautionary measure anyway.
where do you find the NDC number?
Above the Tylenol label.
Look for the word Tylenol on the front of the bottle (big) (that’s all we had – so I don’t know where it is on the other products, but I’m guessing in the same area). Then look above it, right hand side. SUPER tiny numbers in white – that’s what you’re looking for – it’ll start with NDC. I had a hard time finding it too. HTH
The NDC number is located on the bottle or on the box in very small black print right above the name of the product.
Both the childrens motrins and childrens benedryl I bought at Wags are being recalled (i’ve used half of each bottle already!). I also gave my daughter this medicine earlier this week, I had no idea that this medicine is recalled so often. I think I will save my money from other couponing trips to buy generics at full price rather than take the risk in the future on a brand name.
I work at CVS and you also see generics get recalled… It isn’t just brand name companies who do it.
are they cvs brands recalled right now???
Generics are recalled just as much, but not as widely publicized as the “big bad” pharma companies.
I had 4 bottles and all of them were on the recall list. I asked for a refund when I filled out my form. I’m switching to generics. I’m sick of all these recalls.
I’ve used 2 of these products this week on my kids and one bottle is almost empty!
Keep in mind that many of stores that carry these products had their entire stock recalled. When your replacement coupon(s) come, hopefully the stores have the product available. I can see the shelves being empty for quite a while as so many consumers use these products.
Thankfully I just started using coupons so I don’t have any of these items in stock pile. We mainly used generic prior to coupons, and I may keep doing that for the children’s meds. I do think they are safer and less expensive than the others, even with sales and coupons.
Generics are of the same quality as the name brands. They go through the same FDA testing. They aren’t any safer, their problems just aren’t as publicized.
How can we be sure that the generic brand isn’t made by the same company? It makes me so angry that the thing that we trust most to help our children feel better cant be trusted and we are giving this stuff to them! If generics are safe im on board!
Thanks for the info Collin!
I have three bottle 2 of dye free benadryl and 1 childrens motrin and i have requested the refund…now i guess i have to stick to cvs brand becuz my kids are currently sick….:-(
I had 6 bottles! And I had just given some to mu son with a sore throat!
I have like 12 bottles I got from Walgreens not too long ago. I thought I was getting such a great deal cause I was only paying about $1 a bottle. Some “deal”! 🙁
Thank you so much for posting this. I just bought some Tylenol the other night and didn’t know what to do with it. I couldn’t find any info on their site, so this is perfect. You’re awesome, as usual!
Thank you for posting this! I found 2 bottles that have been recalled I just asked for a refund so that I can buy a different brand.
Oh my gosh I just checked my cabinets! I have 3 bottles of zyrtec, 6 bottles of motrin, 5 bottles of baby tylenol and 2 childrens, and 2 benadryl! And who knows how much more benadryl and zyrtec since my kids took that every day last summer!!! Ugh I hate this! what if something would have happened to one of our kids? SCARY!
Thanks for the link for the refund. I had no idea how to go about getting this and I had two bottles that were not even opened!
I had 4 bottles. Thanks so much for posting.
My lot number is all blurred :/ I guess I should call them? I threw out the box….ergh.
when I heard about this on Saturday I went to my CVS and asked the pharmacist. She told me they were offering store credit for any products affected. I ended up taking 6 bottles up there that night and got a store credit. scary!!
Did you have receipts for all of these? I guess I should start keeping receipts b/c I buy in bulk at BJ’s or Costco! 🙁
When I heard about it on Sunday, McNeil wasn’t offering anything for customers to fill out other than a phone number, which told customers to “call back later”. So I took my 10 bottles with receipts back to Walgreens. The second they saw me walk up to the beauty counter with a bag of meds, they said “here about the recall?” and gave me all my money back without a single problem. The manager at that store is really good though.
Does anybody know if this includes off brands? I haven’t bought anything name brand since they recalled the Childrens line a year or 2 ago.
“Tylenol states that the products which were recalled did not meet industry standards, and that no injury or illnesses have occurred. The recalled products may have an overabundance of inert ingredients, particles floating in suspensions and/or too much of the active ingredients (the actual drug)”
This explains why I couldn’t find any medicine for my daughter with a fever of 103. But I had just used my two recalled products on the baby earlier this week Ugh! Thanks for showing us what was recalled and how to get our money back.
Remember it is more of a CYA thing then anything else. I have been giving my kiddos the recalled medicine and had no issues, although McNeil never truly explained what may have happened if it was wrong. I have asked for a refund and will continue to use their products. McNeil will be under a lot of scrutiny and the shareholders will expect nothing else like this to happen; it’s costing them too much money. Sometimes things just go wrong and hopefully no one was hurt. Although I can see at least a couple of law suits coming. 😉
They just had a recall very recently, so this isn’t “new” for them. In fact, the meds that I currently have which are all under the recall were purchased from the refund of the recall before.
I had 3 bottles on the recall list. My daughter has been having a hard time with allergies this spring so the Children’s Benadryl was half gone!!! I had only given her a few doses of the Tylenol, and the Motrin was still sealed. I requested a refund, but I guess I have to go buy another brand so she doesn’t have to suffer.
what about the store brand (it says compaired to active ingridiant in children motrin ) .
I called our local Walgreens and the manager said she would issue a store credit for the products recalled -opened or unopened…..also she said I didn’t need to have the receipt,so if you don’t want to deal with recall through the website, you can call your local Walgreens and see if they will offer the same.
Collin- I’m so glad that you posted this because otherwise I would not have checked. All four of the medicines that I had for my kids have been recalled. One is almost empty that I used this winter. Luckily, nothing happened. I love your blog! Thanks for all you hard work with it!!
I forgot to mention….THANK YOU so much for posting this. I was not aware of the recall….
Thanks Collin! You’re amazing!
Hey, just think – back in the ‘day’ there were no recalls, at least now we DO get told….
If 1 bottle out of the entire 1 billion they produced that day has a single particle floating in it…you get the picture. I’ll be keeping mine.
Generics = the best way to go anyway. They do get recalled, but they are cheaper and are the exact same thing. You might as well go generic on all your meds (minus Coumadin and various Thyroid meds, and a couple of others). Talk to your doctor first.
Wow kind of scary that it is all children and infant medicine. 🙁
Thanks for the link to the refund. I saw the recall the other day, but I couldn’t find anything on the site about a refund. I have 2 new unopened bottles and I’m pretty ticked. That stuff isn’t cheap!
The last recall I had 2 bottles. I was so upset. They sent me a prompt refund slip to use to replace the products, but I don’t trust them enough to even buy from them again. These are our kids we are talking about! Thanks for publishing the link-maybe others will do like I did and buy an adult product with the replacement slips.
Wow, that little fake picture of me is so much cuter than the real picture of me.
The recall website is here: https://www.tylenol.com/page.jhtml?id=tylenol/news/subpchildinfantnews.inc
They said it only applies to specific LOT numbers…so I check and mine does have one of those NDC numbers but the LOT number is not one of them…so I think I am ok…what do you think?
Sarina, what you are looking at is an old article….mostly ALL of them are being recalled…check the UPC….
I stocked up in the fall when I had lots of RRs and there was a sale, I have 5 tylenols, 4 motrins and 3 Benadryl… pretty well ALL the medicine for her as I had used up my Advil and most of the generics. I”m pretty pissed….
Yeah, I agree, it is all of their childrens and infant products for motrin, tylenol, benadryl, so a LOT of recalled product!!
Wonder what they are giving as a refund? I’d be tempted to just take that and use it to buy another brand!!
Lauren, that’s what I’m doing with my refund, assuming it comes in the form of cash, which it sounds like it will.
Wow – thanks. I just submitted for a refund for 10 bottles. So what’s to stop me now (except my own conscience of course) from taking my medicine to Walgreens and getting a refund there? I’m an ethical person and won’t do that, but there definitely are people who will.
Collin… thank you for posting this on your site… had not heard anything about the recall… and had a recalled bottle (or whatever you call it… need coffee) thanks, thanks, thanks!!!
Thanks for posting this – somehow I missed it in the news and had 5 bottles affected by the recall!
Every bottle that I had was under the recall. What’s worse – my 19 month old is teething badly – and now I have nothing to give him!!!!
I am glad that they caught it before there were any adverse medical situations! It would have been terrible to find out a different way!
I used Hyland’s Teething Tablets (you can get them at the health food store and even chain pharm. carry it now too.) with my son- they work great! Very calmin- just be sure to read the ingredients to make sure they are ok for your child.
I had 2 infant tylenol’s on the list – one brand new and the other one just opened up in march. I am just glad I know now so I can get rid of them. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for posting this. My little one is currently sick, and I gave her tylenol last night and this morning, and sure enough, my bottle is on the list. ARG. I know they said nurmerous times that there were no adverse medical reactions, but I’m going to be so paranoid now! I’ve had about all I can handle with pharmaceutical companies. I think I’m done…no more meds, all natural here. I know people are not perfect, but I really think the quality control should be a little better… The descriptions of why it was recalled are a little unnerving… a higher concentration of active ingredient, ingredients that don’t meet testing requirements, and then my favorite… “some may contain tiny particles”….tiny particles of WHAT???
That is a horrible idea. You’ll regret it when she starts having febrile seizures. Or worse.
I had a bottle of Benodryl that was on the list that i purchased about 18 months ago!!! i almost didn’t check it because i had it for so long! thank goodness i did!!
i requested a refund because i already bought more!
That is a horrible idea. You’ll regret it when she starts having febrile seizures. Or worse.