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Missing: one extruder

Maybe you were as surprised as I was to hear about the major recall from Ross Products for its 32-oz plastic bottles of Similac.

In the old days, we've heard about packaging-related recalls from glass chips, poor seals and other leakers, as well as numerous label copy issues, especially those related to allergen exposure.

You've heard lots about deadly contamination of spinach, too. But in my memory, this was the first time I can remember a recall due to a bottle defect like a missing protective layer in a multilayer plastic container. In this case, the blame was attributed to Ross Products' unidentified blow molder that inexplicably failed to provide bottles with an oxygen barrier layer to its customer.

In case you hadn't seen the notice, in mid-September, Ross Products recalled parts of shipments of several Similac infant formula products that may have reached the marketplace between May and September of this year. In total, the recall covered some 300,000 bottles of the infant formula. The crux of the issue is that the absence of the oxygen-barrier layer could cause premature degradation of the vitamin C in the product.

The result could be—and I emphasize “could”—infant formula packages that did not contain the essential vitamin at levels stated on the labels. As of press time, no serious medical complaints had been reported to the company. My cynical side suggests that's only because the lawyers haven't yet gotten into the fray.

Nonetheless, the manufacturer did disclose some of the symptoms that the lack of vitamin C might cause in infants, including increased irritability and generalized tenderness. According to Ross Products' notice, the vitamin deficiency “symptoms could appear in infants if dietary intake is inadequate for more than two to four weeks.”

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