Another Mattel recall

If they keep this up, the holiday shopping season could get real ugly for the world’s largest toymaker. The AP is reporting that El Segundo-based Mattel will be announcing tomorrow the recall of a third batch of Chinese-made toys because they may contain excessive amounts of lead paint. The latest recall involves a Fisher-Price toy and accessories to a Barbie playset, and it puts Mattel in a delicate position, PR-wise. Mattel CEO Robert Eckert said at a press conference last month that there may be more recalls of tainted toys, which is reassuring long-term but could be a killer for the fourth-quarter bottom line. Simply put, retailers don’t know what to stock and parents don’t know what to buy.

Last month, Mattel vowed that it would tighten its controls at its factories in China. About 65 percent of Mattel's toys are made in China, where about 50 percent of Mattel's production is produced in company-owned plants. But apparently, the controls were not strict enough, particularly when it came to overseeing Mattel's subcontractors. Until recently, Mattel had focused testing on materials that went into the toys and had factories do sample testing of its products. Now, the company is increasing its vigilance at the beginning of production and during production. Factories are now being forced to test every batch of products before they are released to stores. Mattel has also stepping up unannounced random testing of its Chinese suppliers and is tightening enforcement of rules that suppliers use certified paint.

Meanwhile, in China: Beijing keeps saying that it's sorry for having such a corrupt and cut-throat manufacturing network - even if government officials also say that it isn't as bad as the Americans would have you believe. In what comes off as a "round up the usual suspects" response, regulators say they've broken up counterfeit drug makers, unlicensed toy producers and criminal networks. Yeah, sure. “This is a special war to protect the safety and interests of the general public, as well as a war to safeguard the Made in China label and the country’s image,” Vice Premier Wu Yi said at a news conference. From the NYT:

Beijing insists it is not all talk; and that improvements are already being seen. And while China has long insisted that 99 percent of the country’s exports to the United States, Europe and Japan are safe, the government has at times acknowledged large problems in product safety. After government investigators found that Chinese companies had exported tainted pet food ingredients and toys coated with lead paint, they closed factories and even detained managers. But the recalls continue to come, not just from the United States but from a growing number of other countries.

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And if anyone has doubts about food safety during the Olympics, Beijing said it was already acting: white mice will be used to test most foods served to athletes, and pigs for pork are already being bred organically, in secret locations. GPS technology is being employed to track the whereabouts of some animals. But clearly, there is still work to be done at home as well. When China Daily, the country’s English-language newspaper, recently asked consumers whether they believed most food in China was safe, 41 percent answered, “no.”