Infant Motrin recalled due to plastic particles

Johnson & Johnson is recalling 200,000 bottles of Motrin Infants formula due to the risk that they contain tiny plastic particles.

J&J’s McNeil unit said Friday that the recall affects three lots of its popular Motrin Infants’ Drops Original Berry Flavor, which is used to lower fever and treat aches and pains in children 2 years old and younger. The company warned that the medicine may be contaminated with specs of PTFE, a plastic also used in Teflon coatings. No illnesses or injuries have been reported to date, according to the company.

McNeil says it’s unclear if the recalled bottles actually contain the particles, which were found in a different product during the manufacturing process. The company decided to issue the recall because both products contain the same shipment of ibuprofen from a third-party supplier. Ibuprofen is a common pain reliever and fever reducer, also used in Advil.

“From our perspective, during the manufacturing process at the third party supplier, that’s when the particles got into the ibuprofen,” said McNeil Vice President Ed Kuffner, in an interview with the Associated Press. Kuffner declined to identify the supplier that made the ibuprofen.

The recalled half-ounce bottles can be identified by their lot numbers: DCB3T01, DDB4R01 and DDB4S01. 

McNeil is asking retailers to take the affected products off store shelves. Consumers should stop using the affected medicine and call the company for a refund at 1-877-414-7709.

The recalled Motrin was manufactured at the company’s plant in Beerse, Belgium. McNeil’s primary manufacturing plant in Fort Washington, Pa., has been closed since the spring of 2010 after a string of recalls involving brands like Tylenol, Motrin and Zyrtec. That included the recall of more than 136 million children and infant over-the-counter medicines in April 2010, the largest recall of its kind.

Friday’s announcement is the latest in about 40 product recalls announced by the New Brunswick, N.J.-based health care conglomerate since 2009.

In 2013 alone, J&J has recalled: millions of oral contraceptive due to flawed tablets, Adept hip implants that were failing and had to be replaced prematurely, OneTouch VerioIQ blood glucose meters that shut off rather than issuing a warning when blood sugar levels get dangerously high, Children’s Tylenol made in South Korea that contained too much acetaminophen and versions of K-Y Jelly personal lubricant that potentially never got required regulatory approval.