The world's largest maker of healthcare products Johnson & Johnson (NYSE.JNJ) said, Thursday, it has expanded a recall of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and included Tylenol, Motrin and Benadryl to address concerns over a musty or moldy odor linked to the drugs. The recall could prompt US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate criminal complaint against the drugmaker.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a division of the healthcare company, announced, Thursday, that it is recalling several types of Children's Tylenol. Other OTC drugs that have been also been recalled include adult-strength Benadryl, Motrin IB, Tylenol Extra Strength, Tylenol Day & Night and Tylenol PM. The lot number and UPC code of the recalled products have been published on the drugmaker's website.The recall is a follow-up to an earlier recall announced in January concerning the same drugs.

McNeil said 21 lots of the drugs were being recalled but did not say how many bottles and boxes were involved in the recall.

A company spokeswoman said the recall was voluntary in nature. It was prompted, she said, after the company realized that the affected products were stored on the same type of wooden pallet that contained trace amounts of a chemical that has been linked to the musty odor in the January 15 recall. In January, McNeil recalled an undisclosed number of containers of Tylenol, Motrin and other OTC drugs after consumers complained of nausea and vomiting caused by an "unusual" odor.

The company has not received any report of major illness in connection with the latest recalled products though 70 people have reported being sickened by the odor, the spokeswoman said. The risk of serious health problems is remote, she said.

According to the spokeswoman, the chemical in question is called tribromoanisole or TBA and generally present in the wooden pallets sued to ship and store the medicines. It has been traced to a facility in Puerto Rico, she added.

"These lots are being added to the list of recalled products as a precautionary measure after a continuing internal review determined that some packaging materials used in the lots had been shipped and stored on the same type of wooden pallet that was tied to the presence of TBA in earlier recalled lots," the drugmaker said in a release.

The drugmaker said the recalled drugs were made prior to January and sold in the United States, Fiji, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. Customers concerned about the recalled products should stop using them and contact McNeil for instructions on how to obtain a refund or replacement. More information is available at www.mcneilproductrecall.com and 1-888-222-6036.

Products of Johnson & Johnson, which once enjoyed a strong reputation for safety and quality control, has come under scanner of the FDA in recent times for selling substandard drugs.

In November 2009, the drugmaker recalled five lots of its Tylenol Arthritis Pain 100 count with the EZ-open cap product after receiving complaints of an unusual moldy odor that caused nausea, stomach ache, vomiting and diarrhea. It also recalled products such as Rolaids, Simply Sleep and St. Joseph aspirin.

In December 2009, the recall was expanded to include all available product lots of the same drug.

In January this year, the company recalled an undisclosed number of containers of Tylenol, Motrin and other over-the-counter drugs while in April, it said it was recalling 40 types of drugs for children and infants, including 136 million bottles of Benadryl, Motrin, Tylenol and Zyrtec, over quality concerns.

In May, the company announced that it was taking further "corrective steps" at its US plant as some of the products could have more active ingredients than stated while others could contain tiny metallic particles. A FDA probe has also found that some drugs contained bacteria.

Quality control problems at McNeil's manufacturing plants have also sparked a congressional investigation. While one of its plants located in Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania, was shut down, the FDA has asked the drugmaker to fix multiple deficiencies found in some of its factories. The FDA is also mulling whether it can slap criminal charges against McNeil, which it has accused to knowing about the problems as early as 2008 but had failed to take corrective action quickly.

Shares of the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company closed up 1.27 percent at $61.38 on the New York Stock Exchange. Investors shrugged off the news as FDA said the recall will not affect the market since alternative generic drugs were available.