2010: Year Of The Recall

That darned oil ain’t just leaking into the Gulf — now it’s leaking into my Froot Loops!

Kellogg Co. pulled 28 million boxes of multiple cereals last month after an “off-flavor and smell” was causing nausea and diarrhea in consumers. Turns out the pesky culprit was methylnaphthalene, a hydrocarbon found primarily in crude oil, which is used in the products’ packaging.

As 2010 rolls on by, nearly every week brings to our attention a new chemical-concoction product or dangerous deathtrap creation that we willingly toss our paychecks at. Here are some highlights of the 2010 recalls, so far…



SpaghettiOs



Last month Campbell’s Soup recalled all of the SpaghettiOs products with meatballs after a malfunction at one facility left 15 million pounds of the meat undercooked. Even if the meatballs were cooked, the food probably isn’t much better for you, but that’s still no reason to give salmonella to some unsuspecting freshman stoner.



McDonald’s Cups



In early June, McDonald’s recalled 12 million Shrek-themed glasses after a congresswoman received an anonymous tip that the commemorative cups’ paint contained the carcinogen cadmium. The toxin can cause a range of health issues that most people who frequent McDonald’s will probably experience eventually anyway.



Freshway Foods Lettuce



Freshway Foods recalled shredded romaine lettuce across 23 states in May after 19 cases of E. Coli, three of which were potentially life-threatening. Freshway Foods is a prime supplier for many delis and salad bars, thus prompting rabbit-food eating veg-heads everywhere to deeply question the quality of their greens. Not even the cow-lovers are safe!



Pringles



In March, Pringles had to recall two of their flavors due to a salmonella threat. Let’s be honest — if you eat chips that are called “Restaurant Cravers Cheeseburger” and “Family Faves Taco Night” then you really have no one to blame but yourself for that one.






Toyota



Toyota recalled 2.3 million cars at the beginning of the year in response to dangerous acceleration issues with the gas pedals, or just a collective deception of people who wanted an excuse to gleefully crash their Prius into random objects and cruise around at 90mph.






Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl



After throwing up from food poisoning after your friends dared you to eat that drunk party mix of Froot Loops, Pringles, and SpaghettiOs, choking on a couple of cancer-causing flakes of paint from your Shrek cup, and having to jump out of your moving car when it refused to stop, you probably just want to kill that gnarly headache with a nice dose of Tylenol — BUT WAIT! Johnson & Johnson recently recalled 2.5 million bottles of over-the-counter medicines, including Tylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl, thanks to a nasty moldy stank. Might want to go with some good ol’ whiskey to fight the pain instead.



iPhone 4



No, your precious iPhone hasn’t been recalled…YET. But considering the newest model is pissing people off with its reception problems, and Consumer Reports confirmed the faulty construction, it’s only a matter of time before Apple recalls the iPhone 4.