Press Release

DH instructs recall of two batches of Vitamin D3 Tablets 1000 IU

30 July 2015

The Department of Health (DH) today (July 30) instructed a licensed drug wholesaler, Julius Chen & Company (HK) Limited (Julius Chen), to recall two batches (batch numbers: 111403 and 116595) of Vitamin D3 Tablets 1000 IU (registration number: HK-61993) with a pack size of 100 tablets from the market due to a quality issue.

Under the DH's market surveillance, samples of the said pharmaceutical product from the above two batches were collected for analysis. Upon the Government Laboratory's testing, the content of the active ingredient, colecalciferol (vitamin D3), was found to be lower than the labelled claim on the product. The root causes of the issue are under investigation. Since the quality defect may affect the efficacy of the product, Julius Chen was instructed to recall the two batches from the market.

The product was manufactured in the United States by Nutriforce Nutrition. According to Julius Chen, 17 244 bottles from the two batches had been imported to Hong Kong since April 2014 and 3 249 of them had been supplied to local pharmacies, medicine stores and private doctors. Investigations are ongoing and the DH will closely monitor the recall.

The product contains vitamin D3, which is used as a nutritional supplement for bone health. It can be sold over the counter without a prescription. So far, the DH has not received any adverse reports in connection with the product. Julius Chen has set up a hotline (2487 1301) to answer related enquiries.

"Members of the public using the above product should consult their healthcare providers for advice if in doubt," a spokesman for the DH said.