Feds: Burger King Dawdled On PokEball Recall
Federal regulators said yesterday that Burger King dragged its feet in recalling more than 25 million PokÀemon balls that were distributed in recent weeks as part of a major promotion.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Burger King initially refused to stop distributing the balls containing PokÀemon toys or to recall the containers already in consumers' hands after the Dec. 11 suffocation death of a 13-month-old girl in Sonora, Calif.
"We're certainly disappointed they did not stop distributing (the balls) when we started our investigation," commission spokesman Russ Rader said.
The criticism came a day after Burger King announced the recall and said it worked with the commission on how to handle the issue.
The commission launched its investigation of the PokÀemon containers on Dec. 15 after being notified by the Miami-based chain and the coroner in Tuolumne County, Calif., that the girl had suffocated. The baby's mother found her in her playpen with one half of a PokÀemon ball covering her nose and mouth.
The PokÀemon balls, which are less than 3 inches in diameter, pull apart to reveal a toy inside.
Burger King agreed to the recall after the chain learned of a second incident last week in which one of the containers stuck to the face of an 18-month-old child in Leavenworth, Kan.
The girl's father, who was not identified, was able to pull the ball off.
Both Burger King and the commission had agreed to announce a recall effort today, which would have given the chain time to get the word out to its 8,000 restaurants nationwide to withdraw the toys, Rader said.
Burger King also needed time to distribute posters and purchase newspaper ads warning about the containers, Burger King spokeswoman Kim Miller said.
When word of the recall began to leak out, however, the chain decided to issue an announcement late Monday. Burger King said consumers should take the balls away from children under the age of 3 and discard them or return them to a Burger King restaurant.