The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall for about 7.5 million baby shark bath toys manufactured in China and marketed by Zuru in the US. The toys were recalled because of the risks of impalement, laceration, and puncture injuries to children.
The hard plastic top fin on the toys was reported to have injured children who fell or sat on it, causing them significant injuries to their genital, anorectal, and facial areas. Nine of the cases required stitches or serious medical attention, but no deaths have been reported. There is the full-size Baby Shark bath toy which cost $13-$15 and the Mini Baby Shark bath toy which cost $6 to $20.
The full-size Baby Shark toy can sing and swim when placed in water or in the bathtub, and the Mini Shark toy can swim in water but does not sing. The big version has a hard plastic top fin with three grooves visible on one side, and the toy measures about 7 inches. The smaller version measures 4 inches and were sold in yellow, pink, and blue colors.
The big shark toy has the “#25282” identification number underneath with a date code beginning with the letters “DG” followed by “YYYY/MM/DD” in the date range DG20190501 through DG20220619. The recalled mini-size bath toys have tracking label information on the bottom, including raised lettering that states model numbers “#7163,” “#7175,” “#7166,” or “#25291” and a date code beginning with the letters “DG” followed by “YYYY/MM/DD” in the date range DG2020615 through DG2023525.
The recalled baby shark bath toys were sold at Walmart, CVS Pharmacy, Dollar General Corp., Family Dollar Services, HEB Grocery Company, Meijer, Target, TJX Companies, Ross, and Walgreens stores and online across the US.
Zuru said customers will be refunded $14 for the full-size Baby Shark toy and $6 for the mini-size bath toy. The full refund will be a prepaid virtual Mastercard. To qualify for a refund, customers were asked to disable the tail fin by cutting it away on the bigger toy or bending it sideways on the smaller toy. Customers are to write the word “recalled” and the registration code of the product on the disabled fin before uploading a snapped photo of it to https://www.recallrtr.com/bathshark.
Once this is received, Zuru will process the refund to the customer.