You Won't Believe What Consumers Found in Vitamin Bottles

Four Meijer supermarkets in Kalamazoo County have removed suspect vitamin bottles from their shelves after some were found to contain cat food, candy and walnuts, and prescription drugs, among other items. (Photo: Meijer.com)

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The Meijer grocery chain has notified its Michigan stores to remove suspicious vitamin bottles from store shelves after a bizarre tampering incident discovered at a Portage store.

A suspect swapped out vitamins and replaced them with candy, chocolate chips, walnuts, cat food and prescription drugs, then resealed the packages and returned the to the store, WXMI-TV reports.

Prescription drugs found in the bottles included Sotalol, prescribed for cardiac problems; Coumadin, an anticoagulant; and 800 mg Ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory drug.

Vitamins sold under the Mega Red Ultra Strength Omega-3 Krill Oil label were primarily affected.

The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating the peculiar case with the Portage Police Department, said some of the bottles that were in the packages were the original vitamin bottles, others were non-labeled prescription bottles and some were bottles that had been painted black, MLive/The Kalamazoo Gazette reports.

“The suspect then returned the packages to the stores and the items were returned to the shelves,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “S.”

Suspect vitamin bottles were found at four Meijer stores in Kalamazoo County.

Portage Detective Dereck Hess said authorities are contacting other stores in the area that sell vitamins to see if they’ve encountered any tampering.

Authorities are encouraging consumers to carefully check the packaging of over-the-counter drugs and vitamins, as well as the product inside, and be on the lookout for tampering. Anything that looks suspicious should be brought to a store official’s attention.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Portage Public Safety at (269) 329-4567, or Kalamazoo Silent Observer at (269) 343-2100 or online.