A Bearista Bear like these "attacked" a child and 38,000 of them had
to be put down. (Photo - U.S. CPSC)
With the latest product recall this week from Starbucks, I got curious about just how many times this has happened to our local/global bean joint.
Six times in six years.
The recalls involved potential hazards ranging from cut or burned fingers to choking toddlers – all risks brought to you by six different Starbucks products.
Two of the recalls involved children’s products: Bearista Bear tumbler cups and plastic cups with bunny, ladybug and other cool kid themes.
Here’s the recall record since 2003:
May 2003: Voluntarily recalled about 38,000 Bearista Bear tumbler cups for kids. If children tried to chew the flexible straw on the $7 cup, there was a risk of choking from small pieces of plastic that could detach. “A child reportedly began to choke on a detached piece of the straw and the Heimlich maneuver was administered by the parent to remove the small piece,” the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported.
November 2005: Recalled ceramic teapots (about $25 a pop) that were labeled microwave safe. Pulled after a complaint that the handle heated up, creating a burn hazard.
October 2006: The Safety Commission reported another cooperative effort with Starbucks to recall about 73,000 “Barista Aroma Stainless Steel 8-Cup Coffee Brewers.” Defective electrical wiring could cause “overheating, smoking, burning and melting, posing a possible fire hazard,” the announcement said. The company got 23 reports that the brewers’ plastic housings melted. No injuries this time.
October 2007: The company had to recall about a quarter-million $6 children’s plastic cups with cute monikers like Dot Red Ladybug and Bunny Pink. The problem? “If the cup is dropped, the colorful face on the cup can break off and leave small parts or sharp exposed edges that can pose a choking or laceration hazard to young children,” the CPSC reported. Although two children in separate episodes began to choke on a broken piece, no injuries were reported, the agency said.
December 2007: About 167,000 Starbucks Fusion Coffee Mugs were called back in. The plastic handle could detach from the 14-ounce mug when “filled with hot liquids.” Hmm, like coffee perhaps? They posed a “minor burn hazard,” the CPSC said. Nine people got minor burns from the $11 items.
June 2009: A laceration hazard prompts the newest recall, this time of about 530,000 Starbucks Barista Blade Grinders. (The same rebranded product was for sale and recalled by Seattle’s Best Coffee.) The $30 bean busters can turn on or off unexpectedly. The company got 176 complaints, including reports of lacerated hands when the grinders allegedly turned on during cleaning, the CPSC reported.
For the record, five of the six recalled products were made in China. I couldn’t find the origin on the Web for the Bearista tumblers. Some of these products were also sold outside the U.S.
Today, a Starbucks’ spokeswoman wrote back to me to say there’s no pattern here, folks.
“Ultimately we make decisions, working closely with our suppliers, and always with our customer’s front of mind, to ensure safety,” Trina Smith, a Starbucks spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail. “There is no pattern here – each decision is made individually per product. For the five recalls (It's six, as I said and noted in my e-mail -- JP) you note occurring since 2003, we worked closely with the U.S. CPSC to determine the best course of action for issuing the recalls in a timely and effective way.”
“We are committed to providing our customers with safe, high quality and desirable products, regardless of their country of origin. Starbucks has a rigorous quality assurance program that includes a design safety review and independent random testing to assure products meet global standards. If any issue is found, we react quickly and appropriately to address it.”
She also added, “Starbucks, as a retail company, is not immune to issues that occur from time to time that may warrant us to remove a product from our stores or recall products for potential safety reasons.”
I understand that companies get bad products from time to time. I don’t understand the idea that Starbucks doesn’t have at least some kind of pattern – even if it’s just bad luck – going on here.
I also wonder whether Starbucks should have a come-to-Jesus meeting with its “independent, random” product testers. With just their recalled products so far, the testers didn’t find out that dropping a cup could cause it to break; that children can chew soft plastic off; and that when they supposedly microwaved the teapot, the handle got hot.
Some of the other hazards, like the seemingly rare faulty wiring, arguably would have been harder to detect. Still.
So coffee clutchers, what do you think of Starbucks’ potential pattern of pain? Is it one? The company had the same judgment about it in October 2007, two recalls before the latest one.
“This is an isolated incident,'' Starbucks spokesman Brandon Borrman told Bloomberg news back then. He also said the company had no plans at that time to stop sourcing from China.
So does this make you concerned about trusting Starbucks merchandise, especially the ones designed for kids? Drop a comment and let me know.
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Comments
I don't see a Starbucks pattern, rather a Chinese Cheap Goods one. And as well, one of lack of parental supervision. What ADULT product tester would chew on a straw to the point it would begin to disintegrate in the mouth? And WHERE was Mum as this tot was doing so? China's record of "safety" in the junk we continue to buy from them is abysmal, yet nearly every US retailse continue to import it by the container load. This situation seems to be the norm these days, so why single out the Bux? Home Depot, Kohls, Kitchen Kaboodle, Macy's, Target, Mc Donalds.. ALL do the same. It seems Starbucks have responded responsibly in every instance, removing the products quickly, recalling those yet in service. (by the bye, WHO in their right mind would clean a blade grinder whilst yet connected to mains? ALWAYS unplug an electrical device when cleaning/servicing) And in case you think I am "defending" Starbucks, I despise the place, never go there. Horrid coffee, wretched tea, outlandish prices...
I saw the latest product recall, not because I drink coffee (I don't), but because the Starbuck's is the foodstore always has a much shorter checkout line. I think that unintended operation is an odd problem. It seems like the kind of problem you encounter at the very beginning of creating a new product, like the invention of the on/off switch. I can't remember which U.S. president toward the beginning of the 20th century was afraid to use a light switch for fear of getting electrocuted. That was how long ago? And he never lost a finger. But if the manufacturing of htese products is anything like where I work, it's as if the manufacturer of every smalest part is a seperate contractor, and no single department knows if all the parts are compatible. It appears that we can put a man on a moon, and yet not do whatever this recalled device is supposed to do.
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