The group said in a statement that the recall relates to only one lot of Lipitor 40 mg tablets. The action was started after the company received reports of unusual odor emanating from the bottles in which the pills were packaged.

According to the company, these bottles were supplied by a third party subcontractor and Pfizer has already identified the source. This subcontractor’s name is not revealed in the company’s statement.

Pfizer’s decision to recall 19,000 bottles of its cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor, which is also used to reduce heart health risks, is the result of “increased surveillance of odor-related issues after other reports in the industry.”

The current Lipitor recall is already the 4th in 2010. There have been three previous similar actions, taken by the company, in August, October and November as a response to complaints of rare abnormal smell.