Mattel recalls third batch of Chinese-made toys

The world’s largest toymaker, Mattel, has suffered its third major recall of Chinese-made products in just one month.

The US-based company has admitted that about 750,000 toys are being recalled because they are decorated with paint containing too much lead. The toys affected include Barbie doll accessories and toy trains.

Mattel maintained that the faults had come to light because the company had recently introduced enhanced testing. In the past month, it has recalled 18 million Chinese-made toys because their paint was found to contain lead.

Mattel senior executive Brian Stockton told the BBC: “We are being open, honest and forthright with consumers with what has been going on. We are hopeful consumers will judge us by our actions – not by the fact that we discovered some sub-contractors that did not do the right thing.”

US retailer Toys R Us has also recalled 27,000 Chinese-made paint and crayon sets after the wooden box packaging was found to contain lead. Before that, about 300,000 items were recalled by US retailers.

Mattel is also being investigated by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) about the timelines of its disclosures about recalls. The CPSC expects manufacturers to report all claims of potentially hazardous product defects within 24 hours.