DETROIT – Dirty laundry is something every household ends up having to deal with, and just about every household has the facilities to clean it. For those that do, many turn to different forms of detergent to help clean their laundry; liquid detergents, powder detergents, and detergent pods, with the latter of the three commonly being the more convenient option. Though recently, there have been some concerns regarding the bags containing the brightly colored packets.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, bags for Procter & Gamble laundry detergent pods made between September 2023 and February 2024 have a fault that can cause them to split open near the zipper, with affected products being Tide Pods, Gain Flings, Ace Pods, and Ariel Pods. With the fault regarding the zippers of these detergent bags, the pods could possibly become accessible to children or cognitively impaired adults in households where these pods are present, which has prompted a recall for the bags manufactured in that period.
“When you look at these laundry pods, they’re squishy. They’re fun to touch. They’re colorful and look a lot like candy. All of these characteristics make them super attractive to a child who might want to explore with their hands and mouths,” said Oriene Shin, Consumer Reports Policy Counsel when speaking to WDIV’s Rhonda Walker about the recall. With these characteristics young children may grow curious, mistaking the pods of concentrated detergent for a sort of sweet treat, which can lead to an easily avoidable visit to the hospital. “Every year poison control centers continue to receive thousands of calls related to laundry pod exposure” explained Shin.
According to the Michigan Poison & Drug Information Center at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, there were 1,107 cases of exposure to laundry pods with children 10 and younger reported to them between the years of 2020 and 2023 alone. Of those cases 99 were moderate medical outcomes, cases exhibiting more pronounced and prolonged symptoms usually needing some form of treatment; symptoms that could include nausea and vomiting causing dehydration, eye injury, and burns to the esophagus.
As per the recall, consumers are urged to immediately store their recalled detergent bags out of reach of children and contact Procter & Gamble for a full refund and replacement child-resistant bag for the pods.
“Every manufacturer has a responsibility to use appropriate product packaging to keep kids safe and to ensure its packaging is truly child-resistant before it’s in the homes of millions of consumers,” Shin said regarding the detergent pod bags.
Given the recall and concerns with detergent pod bags, Consumer Reports strongly urges consumers to switch to liquid or powder detergent instead of pods in households where children younger than six or cognitively impaired adults are present, still making sure to keep it out of reach.
For further information on the recall and how to obtain a replacement bag, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has provided details on its website.