Johnson & Johnson cites “lax cleaning procedures and other problems at the manufacturing plant” as their reason for recalling 200 million consumer medications since last year, the New York Daily News reported Monday.
After investigating the company’s McNeil consumer healthcare unit, the Fort Washington, Pa. plant was found to have “insufficient equipment cleaning procedures and instances where people failed to adequately document cleaning.”
Johnson & Johnson suspended production at the plant last April, but the company stated that it is “very unlikely” that these errors damaged the quality of the product.
After consumers complained of finding chips of wood and pieces of metal in Rolaids tablets, Johnson & Johnson recalled every package of Rolaids Softchews that were produced by an outside manufacturer.
The series of recalls have tarnished the company’s reputation and sales plummeted 25 percent in the 3rd quarter. Additionally, Johnson & Johnson’s shares closed down 36 cents (.5 percent) on the New York Stock Exchange. The company may even face criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The recalls aren’t over either. The company announced a recall Friday of another 50 million packages of consumer medications like Tylenol, Benedryl, Sudafed PE, Rolaids, and Sinutab. They once again cite “cleaning problems and labeling irregularity” as the reason for the recall.