The popular cleaning brand Fabuloso is issuing a recall this week after sending out a series of tainted products sold on and after December 16, 2022. The recall focuses heavily on the brand’s Multi-Purpose cleaners, which are prone to developing potentially life-threatening bacteria.

Fabuloso recalls Multi-Purpose cleaners

The bacteria come from two subspecies of Pseudomonas, aeruginosa and fluorescens. These bacteria are often found in soil and water, according to the brand’s official press release.

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Normally, Fabuloso adds a preservative to prevent the development of these bacteria. However, a manufacturing error made it so the tainted products did not have enough of the preservatives needed to stop the bacteria from growing.

The two subspecies of Pseudomonas bacteria are particularly harmful to those with compromised immune systems and pre-existing lung conditions.

When this particular bacteria does develop inside the affected Multi-Purpose cleaners, consumers can ingest it by breathing in the particles, absorbing them through the eyes, or by making contact with an open cut or wound. However, the cleaning brand claims that people with healthy immune systems are less susceptible to infection.

Fabuloso published a full list of products impacted by the recall.

The voluntary recall includes any of the listed products purchased after December 16, 2022 in the United States and January 23, 2023 in Canada. Fabuloso is reassuring customers that any products on the list purchased before those dates are still safe to use. Otherwise, they advise customers to dispose of the products while still in the container.

The recall process is already getting tricky

Fabuloso is also offering a full refund to anyone who purchased the affected products. However, some customers are already running into problems with Fabuloso’s refund process. One commenter on their original Instagram post wrote, “Tried to file a claim and it won’t let me send my photos!”

For the most part, people seem to be forgiving of Fabuloso’s oversight. However, there is a question of how the brand will respond to people whose health declined as a result of using the tainted products. All in all, roughly 5 million bottles of Fabuloso Multi-Purpose cleaner were subject to recall.

However, only 1.1 million of those bottles were actually sold.

Fabuloso isn’t the only company recalling products

Consumers may remember a similar recall in October 2022, when Pine-Sol took 37 million bottles of product off the shelves for the exact same reason. In fact, recalls stemming from Pseudomonas are fairly common. According to the CPSC, there were a handful of recalls in 2022 because of Pseudomonas bacteria.

Among them were Art of Green Laundry Detergent, The Laundress Laundry Detergent and Household Cleaning Products, and the aforementioned Pine-Sol recall.