Some Not So Fabuloso News for the SouthCoast’s Favorite Cleaner

It's hard to say how Fabuloso became SouthCoast's No. 1 cleaning product, but I can't imagine there are many people around here who would dispute it.

Walk into nearly any restaurant on the SouthCoast. If the server or host wipes down the table, you know they'll be using Fabuloso.

The same goes for nearly any house located within a 5-mile radius of New Bedford's feastgrounds or the Portas Da Cidade in Fall River. If you walk into your friend's grandmother's house you are more likely than not to smell that familiar lavender smell which means "clean" to every Vavo on the SouthCoast.

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However, there might be a hiccup in the supply chain of the popular SouthCoast cleaner. Fabuloso says some batches of the multi-purpose cleaner did not receive a preservative during manufacturing, which could cause the growth of a type of bacteria that could lead to infection for people with weakened immune systems.

As a result, they have implemented a "voluntary recall" of 4.9 million bottles. People with healthy immune systems are usually not affected by the bacteria.

The recalled Fabuloso bottles were sold in December at Dollar General, Family Dollar, Home Depot, Sam’s Club, Walmart and other major retailers nationwide from December 2022 through January 2023 for between $1 and $11.

Brian Martins of local comedy troupe The Portuguese Kids joked that the recall could severely affect the social lives of Portuguese grandmas here on the SouthCoast.

"No avo will want to have company come over to the house because they'll be afraid the house won't be clean enough and people will start talking about them," Martins said.  "This is definitely a non-Fabuloso ordeal."

The Portuguese Kids were kind enough to illustrate the shock and frustration in the image above.

The good news?

Roughly 3.9 million of those recalled bottles were never released for sale. However, if you have a bottle of Fabuloso in your house, you'll want to cross-check your product by clicking here.