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article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
Eye drop aisle at Target store, Queens, New York. (Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) <\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES – Federal health<\/a> officials are warning consumers<\/a> to check their medicine cabinets following a nationwide recall of more than 3 million bottles of eye drops sold under dozens of popular retail brands.<\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n On March 31, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) disclosed<\/a> that Pomona-based K.C. Pharmaceuticals voluntarily recalled 3,111,072 bottles of eye drops.\u00a0<\/p>\n The primary concern is a “Lack of Assurance of Sterility,” meaning the company cannot guarantee that the manufacturing process prevented the introduction of infection-causing microbes.\u00a0<\/p>\n The recall spans a wide variety of products, including “Artificial Tears,” “Advanced Relief,” and “Redness Lubricant” drops.\u00a0<\/p>\n Major retailers involved include pharmacy giants like CVS and Walgreens, grocery chains like Kroger and H-E-B, and distributors like Cardinal Health and McKesson.<\/p>\n Most affected lots have expiration dates extending into May or October 2026.<\/p>\n What we don’t know:<\/p>\n The FDA report did not explicitly state that any of the bottles were found to be contaminated, only that the safety standards required to ensure sterility were not met.<\/p>\n Additionally, the report has not yet provided specific instructions for consumer refunds or a formal replacement remedy from the manufacturer.<\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n Consumers are advised to stop using the affected products immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the FDA has not outlined a specific refund process, it is expected that major retailers may honor returns or exchanges for the identified lots.\u00a0<\/p>\n Health officials recommend that anyone who has used these drops and experiences eye pain, redness, or vision changes should contact an eye doctor or healthcare <\/a>provider immediately.<\/p>\n What you can do:<\/p>\n Check the brand name and lot number on your eye drop bottles. If you find a match with the following major brands, set the product aside:<\/p>\n Pharmacy Chains: Walgreens, CVS Health, Rite Aid.Supermarkets: Kroger, H-E-B, Publix, Meijer, Harris Teeter.Others: Dollar General, Circle K, Cintas, and various wholesale brands like Leader or Equaline.Check the Lot: Specifically look for codes starting with AC, AR, LT, SU, RG, RL, SY, or AT with 2026 expiration dates. <\/p>\n Tap or click here to read the full FDA announcement.<\/a><\/p>\n The Source: This report is based on an official enforcement report published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 31, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recalls<\/a>Consumer<\/a>Business<\/a>Instastories<\/a>Health<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Eye drop aisle at Target store, Queens, New York. (Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[112,9153,8,62,9155,9,9154,6556,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-13398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-consumer","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-instastories","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-recalls","15":"tag-series","16":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116341470822471817","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}