The breadth of the initial recall suggests even Unilever doesn't know what happened. So out of an "abundance of caution," and until it could narrow things down with an investigation, the company likely assumed the worst: that customers were potentially exposed to bacteria for almost two whole years. (Neither of the founders, nor Unilever, responded to my. interview requests. The Laundress said in a statement: "The Laundress operates with its own network of longstanding suppliers and therefore no other Unilever products are impacted.") "Normally, you don't test routinely for bacteria in your products because of all the work you do upfront to ensure that no bacteria gets in there," says Dane Dickson, a former supply-chain executive who worked for 36 years at Clorox. It can also take a while for enough bacteria to accumulate that it becomes detectable.