In an article published on CNN.com in reference to Johnson & Johnson owned, McNeil Consumer Healthcare’s numerous voluntary recalls over the past year and a half, the company has come under a great deal of scrutiny by Congress and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Following an in-depth investigation, lawmakers claim that they have uncovered an effort by McNeil Consumer Healthcare to remove more than 88,000 defective Motrin tablets from stores in June 2009, without the knowledge of Congress and the FDA.  According to CNN, " J&J hired third party subcontractors INMAR and WIS who specialize in product recalls. These subcontractors sent workers into thousands of stores nationwide to secretly purchase all affected Motrin products from store shelves."

What lawmakers are now calling a "phantom recall," Johnson & Johnson calls a legitimate product removal. Also according to CNN, the agency maintains that Johnson & Johnson was hiding the nature of its activities, while Johnson & Johnson says it informed the agency of the company's plan to conduct a product removal. According to Donald Aday, president and CEO of Strategic Solutions International, "normally, once a company determines that a drug product has to be recalled from the market, the proper procedure is to first notify the FDA that the product will be removed from store shelves, distribution centers, warehouses and anywhere else in the supply chain."