--- description: A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary will pay $25 million after pleading guilty to a federal crime title: Tylenol Maker Admits to Selling Medicine Contaminated with Metal image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29c140e7f9490d84/6987831c428a9eef14cc7910/tylenol.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Companies](/tag/companies/) ## Companies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Tylenol Maker Admits to Selling Liquid Medicine Contaminated with Metal ## Video: 3,000 Pills Later: A Nutraceutical Experiment [Watch (HLS stream): 3,000 Pills Later: A Nutraceutical Experiment](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lzZCTPZO.m3u8) (4:17)  _Published 2011-09-02. TIME senior writer John Cloud took over 3,000 vitamins and supplements in a span of five months to see how his health would change. The results may surprise you_ by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 11, 2015 11:35 AM CUT  Recalled over-the-counter medicines distributed by the McNeil Consumer Healthcare division of Johnson & Johnson including St. Joseph's Aspirin tablets, lot AMM365, Motrin Junior Strength tablets, lot APM303, Tylenol Extra Strength caplets, lot AMA008, and Rolaids Freshmint tablets, lot AFA293, are displayed for a photograph in New York, U.S., on Friday, Jan. 15, 2010\. Johnson & Johnson expanded its recall of products possibly tainted with a wood chemical to include Rolaids, Motrin, Children's Tylenol and St. Joseph's Aspirin along with some lots of Benadryl allergy tablets and Tylenol caplets as a "precautionary action" after consumer reports of moldy, musty and mildew-like odors in some of the pills. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images Recalled over-the-counter medicines distributed by the McNeil Consumer Healthcare division of Johnson & Johnson including St. Joseph's Aspirin tablets, lot AMM365, Motrin Junior Strength tablets, lot APM303, Tylenol Extra Strength caplets, lot AMA008, and Rolaids Freshmint tablets, lot AFA293, are displayed for a photograph in New York, U.S., on Friday, Jan. 15, 2010\. Johnson & Johnson expanded its recall of products possibly tainted with a wood chemical to include Rolaids, Motrin, Children's Tylenol and St. Joseph's Aspirin along with some lots of Benadryl allergy tablets and Tylenol caplets as a "precautionary action" after consumer reports of moldy, musty and mildew-like odors in some of the pills. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesDaniel Acker—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 11, 2015 11:35 AM CUT The maker of Tylenol [pleaded guilty](http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/mcneil-ppc-inc-pleads-guilty-connection-adulterated-infants-and-childrens-over-counter-liquid "undefined") in a Federal Court on Tuesday to selling liquid medicine contaminated with metal. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, pleaded guilty in a Federal District Court in Philadelphia to a criminal charge of manufacture and process of adulterated over-the-counter medicines. The company agreed to a $25 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. The company launched wide-ranging recalls in 2010 of over-the-counter medicines including Infants’ Tylenol and Children’s Motrin. Those recalls came on the heels of others from 2008 to 2010 that involved hundreds of millions of bottles of Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and other consumer products. Metal particles contaminated the liquid medicines, which also suffered from moldy odors and labeling problems. A spokeswoman for McNeil Consumer Healthcare [said](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/10/us-johnson-johnson-tylenol-idUSKBN0M629S20150310 "undefined") the plea agreement “closes a chapter” and that the company has “been implementing enhanced quality and oversight standards across its entire business,” Reuters reports. _Read next:_ [_8 Things You Don’t Know About Supplements_](http://time.com/3712325/supplements-vitamins/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3740245/tylenol-mcneil-consumer-healthcare-metal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3740245/tylenol-mcneil-consumer-healthcare-metal/"},"headline":"Tylenol Maker Admits to Selling Liquid Medicine Contaminated with Metal","datePublished":"2015-03-11T11:35:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:04:23.756Z","description":"A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary will pay $25 million after pleading guilty to a federal crime","url":"https://time.com/3740245/tylenol-mcneil-consumer-healthcare-metal/","keywords":["Companies","Justice Department","Tylenol","justice"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29c140e7f9490d84/6987831c428a9eef14cc7910/tylenol.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29c140e7f9490d84/6987831c428a9eef14cc7910/tylenol.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tylenol","caption":"Recalled over-the-counter medicines distributed by the McNeil Consumer Healthcare division of Johnson & Johnson including St. Joseph's Aspirin tablets, lot AMM365, Motrin Junior Strength tablets, lot APM303, Tylenol Extra Strength caplets, lot AMA008, an","creditText":"Daniel Acker—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3740245/tylenol-mcneil-consumer-healthcare-metal/","name":"Tylenol Maker Admits to Selling Liquid Medicine Contaminated with Metal"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"3,000 Pills Later: A Nutraceutical Experiment","description":"TIME senior writer John Cloud took over 3,000 vitamins and supplements in a span of five months to see how his health would change. 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