Category: recalls

IAMS Puppy Food – This Time, It’s A Recall

On November 25th, Price Chopper (a regional supermarket chain based in the US northeast) posted a recall notice advising its customers that two IAMS pet foods were recalled due to elevated levels of aflatoxins.

During the Thanksgiving weekend, this recall notice disappeared from the Price Chopper web site. A couple of days later, the supermarket chain posted the following statement:

“Iams has not issued a consumer recall on any products. Information which appeared here earlier referred to a few production lots which Iams has retrieved because they were outside of Iams’ specifications and did not meet their quality standards.”

When I asked IAMS for details on this recall, I received this reply:

“Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We regret the confusion. Iams has not issued a consumer recall on any of our products. We are aware the retailer posted some information which led readers to believe that Iams had issued a consumer recall. The store has since removed the information from their site.”

According to Sue Thixton (TruthAboutPetFoods.com), IAMS described their action as a “product pull” that did not require consumer notification.

Today, Procter & Gamble – owner of the IAMS brand – announced a recall of Iams ProActive Health Smart Puppy Dry Dog Food, sold in 7-lb (Code date 12784177I6), 8-lb (Code dates 12794177D2 and 12794177D3) and 17.5-lb bags (Code dates 12794177K1 and 12794177K2), due to aflatoxin levels that were above the acceptable limit. The recalled products are labeled with Use By or Expiration Dates of February 5 or February 6, 2013.

The products, according to Procter & Gamble, already have been retrieved from store shelves. They were distributed to “a limited number of retailers” in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. The list of retailers includes Walmart, Food City, Price Chopper, Big Y and Target.

Interestingly, the 12794177D3 code date included in today’s recall is identical to one of the code dates listed in Price Chopper’s original recall notice – and associated with a Cat Food.

Procter & Gamble hasn’t explained why this particular puppy food was worthy of recall, while the aflatoxin-contaminated cat food with the identical code date only rated a “product pull.” Was it pressure from FDA? Did Walmart – a retailer with enormous clout – “encourage” the company to issue a recall notice? Or did the public reaction to the initial recall/product pull flip-flop convince Procter & Gamble to go public? We’ll never know.

Whatever triggered the recall decision, I hope that Procter & Gamble now realizes that trying to conduct a stealth recall carries a significant risk to the company’s reputation once the recall is found out.

Another FDA and CooperVision Runaround

How hard is it for a company to release a complete list of lot numbers for a recalled product?

In CooperVision’s case, it’s very hard.

CooperVision’s recent expansion of its Avaira® Toric contact lens recall to include certain lots of Avaira® Sphere was accompanied by the launch of a recall site where consumers around the world could find out whether their Avaira® lenses were part of the recall. That’s fair.

But even in today’s world, many consumers, especially in less developed countries, DO NOT HAVE computers or internet access. It makes sense, therefore, for CooperVision also to publish a list of affected lot numbers. I went searching for that list, and found it on the website of Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (National Health Surveillance Agency).

When I randomly selected a few of the 16-digit lot numbers from that list and entered them into the CooperVision recall search engine for several different countries, I received the message “Your lenses are affected by the recall.” When I entered the same numbers into the CooperVision US recall search engine, the software cut off the last two digits of the 16-digit number and returned a message “Your lenses are not affected by the recall.”

I contacted CooperVision and requested a list of lot numbers recalled from the US market – and received the following message from Denise Powell, replying on behalf of the company:

The FDA will also be posting the lot numbers on their government site. The best thing to do is to direct consumers to the CooperVision website, http://www.coopervision.com/international-recall so they can enter in their specific lot number to see if they have lenses impacted by the recall. There is a photo illustration showing consumers where to find the lot numbers on the page.

Next, I contacted FDA spokeswoman Morgan Liscinsky, who replied with the following message:

We cannot provide advance notice of any information posted to the FDA website. You should obtain the most up-to-date list of lot numbers from CooperVision.

After this dizzying display of non-disclosure, I had a closer look at the 16-digit lot numbers and realized that the final four digits were date codes. Entering the 12-digit numbers from the Brazil list (sans date code) into the US search engine produced the message “Your lenses are affected by the recall.”

Therefore, anyone who wants to peruse what I believe to be the complete list of recalled Avaira® Sphere lots can access this list courtesy of the Brazilian government. Consumers in the USA should refer to the column heading “Packaged Lot” for the US 12-digit lot numbers. Consumers outside the USA should refer to the column heading “Captured Lot” for the international 16-digit lot numbers.

Anyone having difficulty accessing the Brazil web page is welcome to contact me directly and I’ll be happy to share a pdf file of the list by email.

CooperVision Recall Hits Contact Lens Users In 69 Countries

CooperVision’s Avaira® Sphere contact lens recall affects a far broader geographic audience than was hit by the earlier Avaira® Toric recall.

The Toric recall affected contact lens wearers in seven countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Spain and the USA. In contrast, the recalled Avaira® Sphere contact lenses were supplied to 69 countries in North America, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

CooperVision has published an international website where consumers can find out whether their packages of Avaira® Sphere and Avaira® Toric contact lenses are affected by the recall. Anyone who wears Avaira® contact lenses and lives in one of the 69 countries should check the status of their lenses immediately.

I’m told by Denise Powell, speaking on behalf of CooperVision, that Avaira® Sphere contact lenses are sold under different brand names in certain countries. Contact lens wearers using any of the following brands should check the CooperVision international website to determine whether their lenses are affected: Ascend Evolve, Betaview 2 weekly, Clear Choice Premium Plus 14 Day, Easyvision Elite Fortnightly, Prevue Platinum, ProActive Premium, Softview Fortnightly Plus, Trio2 Premium 2 week, See and Save 2 Week, VisionPlus Fortnightly, Encore 100, and BioComfort XO.

Some of the countries affected by the CooperVision recall have posted recall notices with more specific details, including other brand names under which the recalled contact lenses are sold. Please follow the live links for more details:

  • Argentina
  • Aruba
  • Australia:- Avaira (enfilcon A) Sphere Contact Lenses. Also marketed under the brand names: Clear Choice Premium Plus 14 Day Sphere, Prevue Platinum Sphere, ProActive Premium Sphere, VisionPlus Fortnightly Sphere, Softview Fortnightly Plus Sphere, See and Save Premium 2 Week Sphere, Trio2 Premium 2 Week Sphere, Ascend Evolve Sphere, and Betaview 2 Weekly SphereEasyvision elite fortnightly Sphere
  • Austria
  • Barbados
  • Belgium
  • Brazil:- Avaira Sphere contact lenses (registration #80130430037). List of 104 affected lots.
  • Bulgaria
  • Canada:- Encore 100 contact lenses. Costco Canada reports that the recalled Encore 100 Sphere Contact Lenses were sold in Costco Canada warehouse stores between March 16 and October 12, 2011.
  • Chile
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • Faroe Islands
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • Hong Kong:- Avaira and BioComfort XO contact lenses; FreshKon Airis 1-Month, imported from Singapore and distributed by Oculus Optical (H.K.) Co., Ltd.
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Italy
  • Jamaica
  • Kazakhstan
  • Korea
  • Kuwait
  • Latvia
  • Lebanon
  • Luxembourg
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand:- Ascend Evolve, Avaira, Easyvision Elite Fortnightly, See and Save 2 Week Premium, Softview Fortnightly Plus, and VisionPlus Fortnightly
  • Nicaragua
  • Norway
  • Pakistan
  • Panama
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Peru
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Qatar
  • Republic of Ireland
  • Russia
  • San Salvador
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Serbia & Montenegro
  • Singapore:- Avaira and FreshKon Airis 1-Month contact lenses
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • South Africa
  • Spain:- Including Avaira, A Hisi, Albalens Silicone, Carla 3 Silicona, Cecop Silicone, Centro OP. Jose Manuel Marquez, Combisoft Nature, Delgado Espinosa Silicona, Dublan Silicona, Easygel Plus, Enfilcon DK100 Aspheric, Galindo, Gran Optica, Hidrancy Oxygen, HorizonT, Irco Vision, Lenso Active Hidro Silk, Lent Soft 4 Air, Lentigel Contact, Lentsport, Meca Opticos, Medifresh Elite, Miolent Q, My Vision Max, MyOptica, Only-You Hidrosilk, Optica Altavoz, Optica Avenida, Ramon Optica Hidramax, Soft Lens Oxygen, Verasilicon, and White light Silicone. List of 81 affected lots.
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Syria
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom:- Avaira® Sphere contact lenses. List of 74 affected lots.
  • United States
  • Uruguay
  • Venezuela

Please check back periodically for additional updates to this recall information.

Last update: December 8, 2011