100,000 Vitamix Blending Containers Recalled Across US

More than 100,000 Vitamix blending containers are being recalled after 11 people reported being injured by the product’s spinning blades.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said on its website that the recall encompasses its Ascent and Venturist series 8-ounce and 20-ounce blending containers with blade date codes March 2018 (“03-18”) or earlier.

“If the blade base is marked on the bottom with a green or orange dot, the container has already been repaired. The Vitamix logo is printed on the blending container. The blade date code is laser-etched onto the top of the blade in the blade base. The products have a clear container and a black blade base and were sold separately and with Vitamix Venturist Model 1200 blenders,” according to the CPSC in a recall notice on Aug. 9.

Consumers should stop using the containers and contact Vitamix for a repair kit, Vitamix and the CPSC said.

The firm said it received 11 reports of people being cut when consumers’ hands came into contact with the blades.

Vitamix said that blenders manufactured in April 2018 or later don’t have the problem. “We implemented a new gasket into the design,” Scott Tennant, the head of communications for the company, told Consumer Reports. “For those consumers who own 20-ounce cups or 8-ounce bowls manufactured prior to the design change, we will send free of charge an easy-to-use repair kit. You'll replace the orange gasket, no tools needed, with a new gasket.”

The recalled containers were sold at Costco, Williams-Sonoma, and on Vitamix’s official website from April 2017 through July 2018. They ranged in price from $24 to $500.

Thyroid Pills Recalled

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week announced the recall of Westminster Pharmaceuticals thyroid tablets due to the risk of adulteration. In an Aug. 9 statement, the FDA said  Levothyroxine and Liothyronine tablets in 15 mg, 30 mg, 60 mg, 90 mg, and 120 mg varieties are being recalled as a precautionary measure.

The pills were “manufactured using active pharmaceutical ingredients that were sourced prior to the FDA’s import alert” regarding a Chinese firm that made the products, the agency said.

A 2017 inspection of China’s Sichuan Friendly Pharmaceutical Co. drugs discovered “deficiencies” and could “represent the possibility of risk being introduced into the manufacturing process,” the FDA said.

Westminster Pharmaceuticals said it hasn’t received any reports of adverse reactions.

Heart Drug Recall Expanded

Meanwhile, the FDA expanded its recall of the blood pressure and heart drug valsartan, primarily manufactured by China’s Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical—a major global manufacturer of generic valsartan. The FDA said the drug had been contaminated.

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The valsartan recall, as well as the recall of the thyroid pills, highlights how defective medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients made by Chinese firms pose a health danger in the United States.

“There is a lack of trust in medicines made in China now,” Rosemary Gibson, a senior adviser at The Hastings Center, told The Epoch Times in July.