Health Canada is recalling a bunch of sanitizing products because the disinfectant is missing

If you're stocking up on disinfectant wipes or antibacterial hand wash, you'll want to check your stash — several sanitizing products are being pulled from store shelves across Canada because they might not actually, well, sanitize anything.

On Wednesday, Health Canada published multiple recalls for popular cleaning products due to missing or undeclared disinfectant ingredients.

These product recalls in Canada include some familiar names, like Co-op Gold Ultra Disinfectant Wipes, which are being recalled across the country because the disinfecting agent listed on the label might not even be in the wipes.

Health Canada recalls like this one are serious business, especially when it comes to health and safety — using products that don't do what they promise could give you a false sense of security and leave you exposed to germs without knowing it.

The government agency says that all lots of Co-op Gold's and All Clean's Ultra Disinfectant Wipes could be affected, as the key ingredient — alkyl dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chloride — might be missing.

Meanwhile, the All Clean website proudly claims that its Ultra Disinfectant Wipes "kill Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in 30 seconds."

And that's not all. Some All Clean sanitizing wipes may have extra ingredients that aren't listed, and an antibacterial hand soap from the same brand was being sold without approval in Canada.

All Clean Ultra Disinfectant Wipes are being recalled in Canada.All Clean Natural

Here's the full list of sanitizing products being recalled:

• All Clean Ultra Disinfectant Wipes
  • Issue: May not contain the active disinfecting ingredient as labelled
  • Affected scents: Fragrance Free, Lemon (all lots)
  • DIN: 02519984
• Co-op Gold Ultra Disinfectant Wipes
  • Issue: May not contain the active disinfecting ingredient as labelled
  • Affected scent: Lemon (all lots)
  • DIN: 02520613
• All Clean Natural Sanitizing Wipes
  • Issue: May contain undeclared ingredients, including Quaternary ammonium compounds and Isopropyl alcohol
  • All lots affected
  • NPN: 80103441
• All Clean Natural Antibacterial Foaming Hand Wash
  • Issue: Sold without proper market authorization (DIN) in Canada
  • Affected scents: Pink Grapefruit, Fresh OJ, North Shore (all lots)

All Clean Natural Antibacterial Foaming Hand Wash is being recalled in Canada.All Clean Natural

Health Canada is advising Canadians to stop using these products and consult a health care professional if they have concerns. It also encourages reporting any side effects or safety issues.

So yeah, it might be time to double-check those cleaning supplies — just because it says "disinfectant" on the label doesn't always mean it's doing the job.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

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