If you’re trying to stretch your dollar, you might shop at your local dollar store. While some dollar stores are actually $1.25 stores now, they can still save you quite a bit of money over other retailers if you shop smart.

Even at a discount price, we still expect to buy products that are safe to use. Unfortunately, if you shop at Family Dollar and you live in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri or Tennessee, you should stop using the products you purchased from that store immediately, especially if you purchased products in 2022.

On January 22, the FDA investigated a complaint from a consumer about a Family Dollar warehouse in West Memphis, Arkansas. They concluded the investigation on February 11, and what they discovered caused Family Dollar to voluntarily issue a recall of many of their products and voluntarily close 404 of their stores.

The FDA discovered over 1000 dead rats were in this warehouse. In addition, there were dead birds, rat droppings and urine throughout this warehouse, which was used to store products including cosmetics, food and medicine.

The rodent infestation does not appear to be a new issue at this warehouse. A look at the company’s records revealed that they removed more than 2000 dead rodents between March 29 and September 17 of last year.

In a press release, FDA Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs Judith McMeekin, Pharm.D, said, “Families rely on stores like Family Dollar for products such as food and medicine. They deserve products that are safe.” She added, “No one should be subjected to products stored in the kind of unacceptable conditions that we found in this Family Dollar distribution facility. These conditions appear to be violations of federal law that could put families’ health at risk. We will continue to work to protect consumers.”

If you have recently used a product such as food or a health care item purchased from a Family Dollar store after January 1, 2022, and if the store you purchased the product from is in one of the affected states, (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee), stop using it. If you have any health concerns that might be related to the use one of these products, contact your doctor. According to the FDA, “Rodent contamination may cause Salmonella and infectious diseases, which may pose the greatest risk to infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly and immunocompromised people.”

If you think you might have bought products that are included in the recall, you can contact Family Dollar Customer Service at 844-636-7687.

Do you shop at Family Dollar? Do you think Family Dollar will be able to clean up the warehouse so that it is a safe place to store products?