If you shop at one of the nearly 5,000 Walmart locations across the U.S., you've come to count on these stores for their convenience and reliability. For those who don't want to pay extra for quality products, it's easy to opt for Walmart's store-brand products—also known as house-brand or generic items—which are sold exclusively at these stores and offer even lower prices when shopping for essentials. Great Value and Equate are two of Walmart's brands that you may recognize, but recently, another one of the store's generic products has become a topic of discussion due to a "quality issue." Read on to find out which house-brand product is being pulled from Walmart shelves.
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Earlier this year, a separate store-brand product was under fire.
ShutterstockAs Walmart sells so many different products and brands, the retailer has faced its fair share of recalls and controversy—and house-brand products are no exception. In March, Walmart was facing a recall of some chip products from its Great Value brand. According to a report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the firm Shearer's Snacks voluntarily recalled two lots of its 13-ounce Great Value Restaurant Style White Corn Tortilla Chips, as the chips potentially contained a foreign material, specifically metal. None of the chips made it to Walmart shelves to be purchased by customers, Shearer's Foods, LLC confirmed in a press release sent to Best Life. However, another store-brand product did make its way into stores, and is now being removed.
Some products for infants are being taken off of Walmart shelves.
siam.pukkato / ShutterstockAs reported by The Miami Herald, Walmart has pulled select lots of Parent's Choice baby wipes. Parent's Choice is one of Walmart's in-house brands, and in an email to Best Life, a Walmart spokesperson confirmed that the wipes were "proactively removed" due to a "quality issue."
While the FDA has not made an official announcement in relation to the wipes, Walmart confirmed that the agency is aware of the situation. "We are working closely with the supplier and the FDA to investigate the issue," Walmart's spokesperson said.
Unconfirmed rumors about the baby wipes were shared online.
ShutterstockAccording to Snopes, rumors about the wipes and a potential recall began circulating online on April 30, after a Product Removal Alert for the wipes was posted on Twitter. Since then, many social media users have shared the message, which was sent to all Walmart stores and instructed employees to "remove specific lot numbers of the Parent's Choice Baby Wipes" and "send those specific lots to the Return Centers."
Rumors allege that the wipes may have been exposed to heavy metals and arsenic. As Snopes reported, one user on the Baby Center forum claimed that the wipes cause "an orange color that doesn't come off and burns," attributing this to "exposure to metals like arsenic and mercury." However, these claims are unconfirmed and no retailers, manufacturers, or regulatory agencies have released official warnings or clarifying information.
If you have these wipes, you can return them to Walmart.
ShutterstockWalmart confirmed to Best Life that 18 lots of wipes had been impacted: L22075, L22076, L22077, L22078, L22079, L22080, L22081, L22082, L22083, L22084, L22085, L22089, L22090, L22091, L22092, L22093, L22094, and L22095.
If you recently purchased Parent's Choice baby wipes, you can return them to Walmart for a full refund, the spokesperson said. According to the Product Removal Alert—dated April 28, 2022—boxes of Parent's Choice scented and unscented wipes were affected.
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