Monday, December 17, 2007

product recall you need to know about



Here's another children's item that I'm personally declaring a recall on, that's made in, you guessed it, China. Mark bought this Miffy plate and bowl set from Japan, at Don Quixote, a few months ago. It had an official holographic sticker of approval from the Miffy people, so why would I think twice about the quality of the items?
Well, take your plates and bowls back ASAP people! This dishware will explode. That’s right I said explode. Much like the made in China batteries that have been causing people's cells phones to spontaneously catch fire in their pants, these dishes will suddenly turn your happy little boy's snack time into D-Day. Thankfully Evan was not using them at the time. :)
We're not sure why these dishes just one day decided to warp and at its breaking point explode in our cabinets. In fact, another little bowl was sitting in this bowl when it exploded and that other bowl was thrown clear to the other side of the inside of our cabinet causing it much distress, and now it will not go near our other dishes.
They were being used in normal circumstances. Not in high temperatures in the dishwasher. My only thought is that the plastic must have been effected by the dry weather here, because plastics don't like to travel far from home I guess!
The bowl was the first to go. I noticed that it had a small crack at the bottom, and thought someone [Mark] had loaded the bowls in the dishwasher too tightly together. Then later that day, while I was upstairs giving Evan a bath, I heard something that sounded like dishes crashing. That's when I saw the bowl like this. wow. The next day I found the plate with a similar crack and by the end of the day it too exploded.
It was kind of crazy to watch these dishes over the next few days slowly self-destruct more and more. I think they've reached status quo for now. But I'll keep you posted when they spontaneously combust.

10 comments:

Jerin said...

That's WEIRD!! I wonder if they really are on some recall list somewhere. It's not like we'd ever know or even know how to find out. Freaky!

m3ng said...

China is no Japan, apparently! Are you sure you don't have malicious ghosts in your house?

Anonymous said...

Mark lied. He bought em at a magic shop. They were shelved between the joy buzzers and squirting lapel flowers.

Singapore Girl said...

Yah, Bev, this is too incredible to be true...exploding plastic dishes! Looked as if Mark was playing a practical joke on you! Anyway, we might be left with paper ware in the aircraft should they find out about this!

Anonymous said...

i bet you mark broke it.. got scared and set up the slave laborers in china

Nate and Mags said...

hmm...that is really weird. Plastic sucks. But now so does possible lead in ceramic dinnerware. So kids should go pyrex? Actually, I think I want to buy some corning - it was the craze for my parents back in the 80s. It still is. I'm beginning to like them a lot more.

Beverly said...

poltergyst, practical joke, Mark isn't fessing up, Evan's stronger than he appears, or maybe I have a thing against Miffy?
I'm thinking about sending this to some chemical engineer to tell me what happened. I think it has something to do with the plastic and the coating used to make the image side of the dish glossy. Probably one expanded faster than the other and once the glossy side couldn't take it anymore it just released all the pressure and the dishes look like this.
With all the health issues with lead and toxins leaking from plastic bottles and such, maybe bamboo dishware and utencils are the way to go now? and it's a renewable source too! Look at me I'm hip, I'm thinking green!
About going green... why is it SO COOL now to be green concious? Didn't we learn about the three R's (reduce, reuse, recycle) back in elementary school? Back then you were called a "planeteer", "tree hugger" or "granola". We've been concious of the environment long before it became a fad. Now there's this story about people going nuts over buying a reusable bag that says "I'm not a plastic bag"!
$2 bags sold for $15 and all the money goes to the designer, not any charity or cause. you got to be kidding me?

YourFriendMark said...

From my uncle, the materials scientist. I *think* I understand:

"Yes, the fracture in the plastic plate is a material issue. As long as there is an initial crack in the material, it will propogate through the bulk. Especially when the material was made, there might be some kind of surface treatment during the process, which would introduce stress on the surface. Usually the tensile stress tends to enhance the crack propogation."

Anonymous said...

"and thought someone [Mark] had loaded the bowls in the dishwasher too tightly together."
SURE, BLAME THE HUSBAND.

Leasha said...

That is crazy!! I have been trying to find some good "reliable" toys here in HK for the past few months, but I am always afraid. You can't trust anything anymore.