Back in June, the FDA sounded an alarm about potentially bacteria-laden Clarcon products, including some anti-bacterial lotions meant to be applied to open wounds. They urged the public not to use Clarcon products while Clarcon addressed the matter. Apparently Clarcon didn’t do enough, though, because this past weekend U.S. Marshals “seized all skin sanitizers and skin protectants, including ingredients and components, at Clarcon Biological Chemistry Laboratory’s facility in Roy, Utah.”

When the FDA discovered the contaminated products back in June, they also found that Clarcon wasn’t properly following FDA practices for sanitary production, and they asked Clarcon to destroy the products and their ingredients. Apparently Clarcon refused, so they sent the U.S. Marshals in.

At that time, Clarcon’s co-owner told WebMD that he disagreed with the FDA’s findings, and that products would be back on the shelves by mid-July:

Markham says he has testimonials about how well the products work and that Clarcon has destroyed its products as a precaution and is shifting production to another facility that will have “higher, more intense monitoring.”

Markham says Clarcon tested the same batches of products as the FDA and that the FDA did not find contamination in all of the random samples it checked.

“Our findings are not matching their findings,” Markham says. “This may be a small, isolated issue … they only found it in a couple of [bottles].”

Markham says Clarcon and the FDA are investigating the matter and that Clarcon’s products will be back in four to five weeks, made at the other facility that the company has contracted with.

We’ve tried to find more details about just what bacteria were discovered, but the only info we can find is this vague statement from the FDA:

Some of these bacteria can cause opportunistic infections of the skin and underlying tissues. Such infections may need medical or surgical attention, and may result in permanent damage.

Here are the potentially contaminated Clarcon products you should throw out.

• Citrushield Lotion
• Dermasentials DermaBarrier
• Dermassentials by Clarcon Antimicrobial Hand Sanitizer
• Iron Fist Barrier Hand Treatment
• Skin Shield Restaurant
• Skin Shield Industrial
• Skin Shield Beauty Salon Lotion
• Total Skin Care Beauty
• Total Skin Care Work

“US Marshals Seize Sanitizer for Bacteria Problems” [ABC News]
“FDA Warns of Bacteria in Clarcon Skin Products” [WebMD]
(Photo: zakwitnij)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.