Keurig Green Mountain, a maker of home-brewing machines for beverages, is recalling more than 7 million coffee-making systems after reports of people being burned by hot liquid that sprayed from the devices.
The company will recall about 6.6 million of its Keurig MINI Plus brewing systems in the US and 564,000 in Canada after around 200 reports of water overheating and spraying out of the machines, including 90 incidents of burn-related injuries, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. The item has been sold at major retailers since 2009 for about $100, the CPSC said yesterday in a statement.
The recall, coming two days before Christmas, is unfortunate timing for Waterbury, Vermont-based Keurig, and customers who may have bought the brewers. The company already cited safety concerns last month about hot liquid escaping from the MINI Plus model. It set aside an estimated $22 million for sales returns.
“We are working closely with our retail customers to recall all affected product,” Suzanne DuLong, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an e-mailed statement.
Keurig is offering free repairs for the recalled devices, which were made between December 2009 and July of this year.
While Keurig doesn’t break out sales of individual products, it sold more than 10 million brewing systems in the 2014 fiscal year. Total sales of brewers and accessories dipped less than 1 percent in that period to $822.3 million, or about 18 percent of revenue.
Stock Slips
During a conference call last month, the company said that it expected to receive insurance money related to the defective machines and recorded a charge of $10 million in its fiscal 2014.
Shares of Keurig dropped 2.3 per cent to close at $136.55 in New York. They have gained more than 80 per cent this year.
The company’s machines allow users to make beverages such as coffee that are sold in individual pods. This year, Coca-Cola bought a 10 per cent stake in Keurig for about $1.25 billion, while Kraft Foods Group Inc. agreed to bring its coffee brands such as Maxwell House, Yuban and McCafe to Keurig’s brewing system.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
