Some research has suggested that what you put in your nose, in fact, can travel to the brain. One study even detected that nose-picking showed some link to Alzheimer’s.
It’s not an alluring thought, but it’s worth considering—and this month, amid a lingering allergy season, a popular over-the-counter brand has reportedly removed a nasal spray from market due to what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is citing as “Microbial Contamination of Non-Sterile Products.”
The FDA has reported that on June 1, Beekeeper Naturals voluntarily initiated a nationwide recall on 1,680 one-ounce (30 mL) bottles of the brand’s Saline Nasal Spray, Sinus Congestion Rinse, Made with Propolis + Xylitol. The recalled spray reportedly bears lot number 5950 and expiration of 02/2028.
A 2025 Amika shampoo recall was another case that helped highlight a possible complication that can rise from purchasing “clean” personal care products, which are developed to employ fewer synthetic and chemical ingredients that have been linked with such issues as hormone disruption, cancer, and others.
Events like these show there can be cases when, without traditional preservatives, microbes can form or proliferate within the product. On a retailer site, in addition to bee propolis that’s mentioned in the product’s name, Beekeeper Naturals Saline Nasal Spray, Sinus Congestion Rinse appears to list among its ingredients: saline made of water and sodium chloride, vegetable glycerin, the naturally occurring sugar alcohol known as xylitol (which may be indicated to promote moisture within the nasal passageway and also inhibit bacterial growth), eucalyptus leaf extract, oregano leaf extract, and others.
It is unclear, and possibly unknown, which of the ingredients might have triggered microbial growth. The FDA has not yet commented on the level of risk to consumer health.
Pharmacology research from 2013 published in the National Library of Medicine explained propolis as “a natural resinous mixture produced by honey bees from substances collected from parts of plants, buds, and exudates. Due to its waxy nature and mechanical properties, bees use propolis in the construction and repair of their hives for sealing openings and cracks and smoothing out the internal walls and as a protective barrier against external invaders like snakes, lizards, and so forth, or against weathering threats like wind and rain.”
Author of the paper, Dr. Vijay D. Wagh, added that propolis “is commercially available in the form of capsules, mouthwash solutions, creams, throat lozenges, powder, and also in many purified products … Due to its antimicrobial, antiviral, and antioxidant properties, it is widely used in human and veterinary medicine, pharmacology, and cosmetics.”
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