Health Canada Recalls 54,716 M&B Salt Remover Cans That Can Rupture, Requiring Hazardous Waste Disposal

The recall record is precise, and the product identifiers are what let you self-check. According to Health Canada, the affected product is M&B Salt Remover, UPC 777389142200, sold in a 300 g pressurized container manufactured in Canada. The hazard is internal corrosion of the can, which can cause mechanical failure and rupture. As of July 14, 2026, the company had received three incident reports and no reports of injury in Canada.

The product is manufactured by Empack Spraytech Inc. and distributed by Moneysworth & Best Inc. — the "M&B" on the label — both based in Brampton, Ontario. For product-specific questions, the company can be reached at 905-790-0650, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST, or by email at info@MandB.ca. It is also a run of household-chemical recalls worth paying attention to; Health Canada recently pulled Rexall and Pro-Line paint thinner products over a separate packaging failure.

How to Tell If You Have an Affected Can

Match the can in your hand against the recall record. Do not rely on the brand name alone, because product names carry across package runs and formats.

If those line up, stop using the can immediately. Do not spray it down to "use it up," and do not shake it to check what is left. A can flagged for internal corrosion is one you want to handle as little as possible before disposal.

This is the step where good intentions cause problems. A corroding pressurized can is dangerous in storage, but it is also dangerous in the waste stream — and the waste stream is where a mishandled can does its damage to someone else. The City of Toronto defines household hazardous waste as corrosive, flammable, explosive, or poisonous material, and its guidance is blunt: it must not go in the garbage, recycling, organics, or down the drain or sewer. The reason, as the city explains, is that these materials can injure collection workers and cause fires or explosions in trucks and processing facilities.

Now overlay that on this specific recall. A can that ruptures under internal pressure is exactly the failure mode a compactor truck is built to trigger. Crush a corroded aerosol and you get the rupture Health Canada is warning about, just with a sanitation worker standing next to it. The disposal rule is not bureaucratic caution. It is the same hazard, moved downstream. Pressurized cans that fail under stress are a recurring theme in recent recalls — Health Canada pulled the Dupray Neat steam cleaner after its boiler ruptured and injured users, a reminder that "sealed and under pressure" is a category that deserves respect.

Household hazardous waste is never a curbside item. It goes to a municipal drop-off, and most regions run dedicated depots for exactly this. In Peel Region — the same region where the recalled companies are based — a full or partially full aerosol can is classified as household hazardous waste and must be taken to a Community Recycling Centre, where drop-off is free. Curbside set-out is not an option.

The empty-versus-not-empty distinction is the one most people miss. An empty aerosol can is often blue-bin material. A can with contents still inside is not — it is hazardous waste, full stop. A recalled salt-remover can almost certainly has propellant and product left in it, which puts it squarely in the hazardous-waste category no matter how ordinary it looks. One more rule closes off a tempting shortcut: under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, recalled products cannot be sold, redistributed, or even given away in Canada. Handing the can to a neighbour who "might use it" is not a legal or a safe way out.

To find your local instructions, search your municipality or region's name with "household hazardous waste" and look for the depot hours and accepted-items list. If you are unsure whether a specific site takes aerosols, call before you drive over. Health Canada has flagged disposal as the required action on other products too — it recently advised consumers to dispose of an uncertified IQYEF alarm after the seller declined to run a recall.

Holding the Can Safely Until Drop-Off

Depots are not open every day, so most people need to store the can for a stretch first. The Region of Waterloo's handling guidance is a clean checklist: keep the product in its original container so it can be identified, keep the lid or cap tightly sealed, avoid mixing it with other materials, and store it in a safe, dry, secure spot out of reach of children and pets until you can drop it off.

Look at where salt remover lives, and the corrosion story makes sense. It sits in the garage or an unheated storage area — the part of the house that drops below freezing in February and climbs past 30°C in July. That repeated cycling is hard on a pressurized can, and heat in particular is the classic aerosol risk. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety notes that aerosol products can burst if heated and should be kept cool, ventilated, out of direct sunlight, and away from temperatures above 50°C. Consumer aerosol labels are required to carry warnings to that effect, which is why "container may explode if heated" and "store away from heat" appear on so many cans people never read.

The garage is already the highest-risk storage zone in most homes, and recalls keep landing there. Health Canada pulled certain Generac pressure washers after units could self-start in garages. The common thread is not the specific product. It is that the space where we stash equipment and chemicals gets the least attention and the widest temperature swings.

Use this recall as the nudge to spend ten minutes on the shelf it came from. Pull every aerosol you own — spray paint, lubricants, cleaners, starter fluid, that second can of salt remover — and check three things. Is it swollen, rusted, or dented? Is it stored somewhere that bakes in summer heat? Does the label give a storage range or an expiry you have blown past? Anything corroded or bulging goes to the hazardous-waste depot with the recalled can, not back on the shelf.

The recall itself is narrow: one product, one clear action. But the habit it points to is broader. Flammable and pressurized products accumulate quietly in garages — Health Canada also recalled e-NRG bioethanol fireplace fuel over a flame-jetting hazard — and almost nobody checks their storage temperature or shelf life. Ten minutes now is cheaper than a rupture later.