From Niesha Lofing:
Sacramento County is among three counties slated to receive money from a settlement with the makers of cold medicine Mucinex.
An investigation revealed that Mucinex's packaging violated state law concerning "slack fill," a term used to describe fake walls, fake bottoms or excessive amounts of non-functional space, states a news release by Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully's office.
Slack fill space is illegal because it is inherently deceptive, leading the buyer to think there is a larger amount of product inside, the release states.
Reckitt Benckiser, the makers of Mucinex, acquired the cold medicine from Adams Respiratory Therapeutics Inc. in January during the ongoing investigation. The company cooperated with prosecutors and agreed to change its packaging to comply with the law.
The company settled with the three counties without admitting wrongdoing and agreed to pay $228,461.17 in civil penalties and $77,538.83 to reimburse the cost of the investigation, the release states.
Sacramento County will receive $100,000 of the settlement.
The county Department of Weights and Measures, along with similar departments in the other two counties, routinely monitors local businesses and investigates products to ensure they comply with state law.
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