Supply chain: Wood pallets cited as cause for McNeil Consumer Healthcare's Tylenol recall
Wood pallets have been blamed for the recent product recall, but sources agree that more information is needed to draw a definitive conclusion.
Lorie King Rogers, Associate Editor -- Logistics Management, 2/5/2010
What started out for McNeil Consumer Healthcare as a limited recall of Tylenol Arthritis Pain caplets, has swelled into a massive recall of many products and caused a real headache for the wood pallet industry.
The recall raises two important questions:
-What was the source of the wooden pallets in question?
-And, are other U.S. manufacturers at similar risk if they are shipping on wooden pallets?
The short answers are that McNeil has not positively identified the source of the wooden pallets at issue. More importantly, 2,4.6-tribromoanisole, the chemical used to treat the wooden pallets in question, is not used to treat wooden pallets in the United States. Manufacturers and shippers using wooden pallets manufactured in the United States would not face a similar risk, according to industry experts.
Back in December, McNeil announced a voluntary recall of the Tylenol product due to consumer reports of an unusual musty, mildew-like odor that was being associated with unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms. Since then, the recall has extended to other products, including additional Tylenol pain relievers, Motrin, Rolaids, Simply Sleep, and St. Joseph products. All told, more than 54 million bottles of product have been recalled.
According to a statement issued by McNeil on December 18, 2009: "The uncharacteristic smell is caused by the presence of trace amounts of a chemical called 2,4,6-tribromoanisole. The source of the 2,4,6-tribromoanisole is believed to be the breakdown of a chemical used to treat wooden pallets that transport and store packaging materials."
read more at Logistics Management
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