Dealing with product recalls is just part of being a consumer. There are new recalls every day, from smoke alarms to tortilla chips, and the vast majority of them are understandable. If a company accidentally puts the wrong kind of chip in a bag, and those chips could cause an allergic reaction, a recall is issued. The company obviously didn’t do it on purpose, and while it’s inconvenient to deal with as a consumer, it’s just part of modern life.
That said, there are some recalls that are just too absurd to make up. “All-natural” male enhancement pills that contain actual prescription medication for erectile dysfunction come to mind, but that’s not all. A new recall for a type of “slimming” coffee has just been hit with a recall because it contains a banned appetite suppressant and — get this — fluoxetine. Fluoxetine, a medication used in the treatment of depressive disorders, is better known by the brand name Prozac. Yeah, this coffee had a weight loss drug and an antidepressant in it.
Okay so let’s get the obvious thing out of the way right from the top: There’s absolutely no way that the company behind Vitaccino Imperia Elita coffee didn’t know that there were drugs in it. I mean, imagine the ridiculous circumstances that would have to unfold for something marketed as “100% natural coffee” to end up contaminated with these two drugs. The fact that the coffee is marketed as a weight-loss aid and one of the drugs found in it is an appetite suppressant really takes all the guesswork out of the investigation.
Here’s the description of the coffee from one of the online vendors that sold it:
Vitaccino Imperia Elita is a 100% natural coffee that combines two of the most successful slimming products – Baian Lishou slimming coffee and Vitaccino Imperia Elita slimming coffee. As a result, a new slimming coffee Vitaccino Imperia Elita, made of African-Ethiopian black coffee Moyojava, soluble low-fat milk and natural extracts for weight loss Hunger-obliviongrass, Griffonia Simplicifolia, Tuckahoe and immature oranges.
Vitaccino Imperia Elita coffee for weight loss accelerates metabolism and fat burning in the body, increases the feeling of satiety and suppresses appetite, helps with detoxification of the body and treatment of the gastrointestinal tract.
I’ve read some serious bunk in my life but this is way up there.
The appetite suppressant that was found in the coffee is called sibutramine, and it was at one time an FDA-approved drug for weight loss. However, as time went on it became clear that the drug was causing serious health effects including stroke and heart failure. It was then withdrawn and it’s not supposed to be used anymore. That is unless you’re running a scam where you sell magic weight loss coffee.
In any case, if you bought any of this trash, don’t drink it now or ever again.
