McDonald's Happy Meal Recall - McDonald's has announced the recall for 2.5 million Hello Kitty-themed toys in the restaurant's Happy Meal promo which have been found posing choking hazards from its parts.
Two separate incidents of choking among children were reported to McDonald's from its new Happy Meal toy, a Hello Kitty-themed whistle, told in a report by The Associated Press.
The two children have reportedly coughed out small pieces or parts of the whistle that they could have sucked in their mouths. One child was even sent to a hospital to receive medical attention, reported the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Monday.
The consumer safety agency described the toy as a three inch tall "Hello Kitty Birthday Lollipop" whistles with small parts which can detach from it when sucked into a child's mouth and can be inhaled and swallowed causing a risk of choking.
Full and detailed information about the McDonald's Happy Meal recall is supplied in the consumer safety agency's website. The toys were part of October and November Happy Meals and Mighty Kids Meals all over the U.S. and Canada.
There were 2.5 million whistles manufactured in the McDonald's Happy Meal recall but according to McDonald's not all were sent to all of the restaurant branches. In an update, the restaurant said that they were able to recover 1.6 million whistles which include the toys that were never delivered to some branches.
It is not the first time that a McDonald's Happy Meal recall was done. In June 2010, "Shrek" drinking glasses were recalled due to risk of cadmium contents used in the paint on the glasses that could come off when in contact with the children's hands.
The 2010 recall was announced after the consumer safety agency said the tests on the glasses showed that low levels of cadmium could come off on a person's hands when holding the glasses. Cadmium is a heavy metal identified as a carcinogen. During this product recall, McDonald's made an unusual offer of $3 for every consumer to return a "Shrek" glass.
McDonald's Happy Meal recall of the Hello Kitty whistles offers consumers to return them in exchange of a free toy replacement, a yogurt tube or a bag of apple slices.
