It's meant to soothe a common, and dreaded, diabetes side effect—but the government suggests the Canadian manufacturer missed an important safety step.
A Diabetes Medication Sold at Walmart and Elsewhere Recalled Nationwide
Published on Jan. 21, 2025
Many individuals managing Type 2 diabetes are aware of the systemic kinds of issues that can arise from the condition, sometimes out of nowhere, from leg cramps to foot pain that can occur due to complications with blood circulation and nerve health. If massaging cream onto your extremities helps to provide comfort, national authorities are cautioning consumers about a product that reportedly didn’t pass, or even undergo, standard drug safety checks.
It started November 13, 2024, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a recall on a widely sold foot moisturizer marketed for diabetic use. On Walmart’s site, the product, Kissable Diabetics Foot Cream, purports to be a “treatment to relieve, and sooth, dry, cracked skin.” A brief search suggests that the Kissable product, which was sold at Walmart, Dollar Tree, and other retailers, is now listed as “out of stock.”
The recall impacts “all expiration dates within expiry.” If you are unsure of whether you bought the affected creams, check product packaging for the UPC 6 72008 80925 3, and the following lot numbers:
23319025, 23318024, 23313023, 23311022, 23310021, 23222021, 23220020, 23215019, 23215018, 23214017, 23213016, 23208015, 2313014, 2312213, 2312212, 2312111, 2312110, 2311709, 2311708, 2311607, 2311506, 2311405, 2307904, 23073003, 23072002, 2306901, 24135003
Promoted to be fragrance-free and hypoallergenic, the cream was sold in four-ounce tubes and manufactured by Brands International Corp., a company based in Ontario, Canada. Though the number of affected units is not listed in the FDA’s announcement, the recall was enacted “nationwide USA.”
According to the recall notice, the products were voluntarily pulled from shelves after the company discovered deviations from Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP). In particular, the FDA noted a “lack of adequate release testing.”
This suggests that the company did not perform in vitro testing in a laboratory setting to determine how quickly the active ingredient in the cream becomes absorbed when applied to the skin. This is considered a crucial step in establishing safety, batch consistency, and quality control.
On January 17, 2025, the FDA updated its announcement to add that the incident is considered a Class II recall, designating this as “a situation in which use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”
The Cleveland Clinic notes that if you have a foot injury, delaying treatment can lead to heightened risk of open sores or infections. Checking your feet for cuts, scrapes, or other injuries is an important way to care for your feet as a person living with diabetes. If you have the affected purchase in stock, one remedy may be to return it to your place of purchase citing this recall concern.
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