Calico Critters Recalls 3.2 Million Toys After Kids' Deaths

Epoch Everlasting Play is voluntarily recalling all of its Calico Critters flocked animal figures and sets that were sold as bottle and pacifier accessories, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced. According to the CPSC recall notice, the bottle and pacifier accessories “pose a choking hazard to children.”

Customers with affected products can receive a free replacement accessory. “Nothing is more important to us at Epoch Everlasting Play (EEP) than the safety and well-being of children,” a representative for EEP, based in Pine Brook, NJ, wrote in an emailed statement. “For more than 50 years, we have had a superior record for high-quality and safe children’s products.”

More Than 3.2 Million Calico Critters Toys Recalled

The recall affects more than 3.2 million Calico Critters toys and comes after EEP became aware of three incidents involving the pacifier accessory, including two deaths. According to the CPSC recall notice, the fatal incidents involved a 2-year-old child in 2018 in New Mexico and a 9-month-old in Japan in 2015.

The recall affects every Calico Critters flocked animal figure and set sold with bottle and pacifier accessories. The bottle accessories came in yellow, pink, blue, and orange, and the pacifier accessories were available for purchase in yellow, orange, pink, dark pink, blue, and team. One bottle style had two yellow handles.

According to the CPSC release, they were sold for between $10 and $80 nationwide at retailers, including Walmart and Amazon, and online at calicocritters.com from January 2000 through December 2021.

In the statement, the EEP says the company “stopped distributing bottle and pacifier accessories with figures and sets in August 2021.” The EEP representative also noted that the retail is being done in cooperation with CPSC and “out of an abundance of caution.”

“EEP notified the CPSC upon learning information about three choking incidents, the most recent of which occurred in May 2018,” the rep says.

What to do if your child has a recalled toy.

The CPSC has a list of the recalled products’ item numbers. You can find the item numbers printed on the bottom of your Calico Critters’ product packaging.

CPSC has instructed consumers to immediately stop using the bottle and pacifier accessories by taking them away from their children.

Customers can contact Epoch Everlasting Play LLC in the following ways:

• Call 800-631-1272 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday
• Email productsafety@epocheverlastingplay.com
• Log onto epocheverlastingplay.com/recalls
• Log onto epocheverlastingplay.com and click on “product recalls” at the top of the landing page
• Log onto calicocritters.com/en-us and click on “recall information” at the top of the landing page
  

Affected consumers can receive a free replacement accessory.

“All Calico Critters products sold in the U.S. and Canada prominently display the required small parts choking warning on the packaging and indicate that the product is not for children under 3,” the EEP rep says. “In addition to the small parts warning and 3+ age-grade on the packaging, the small parts are visible to consumers through the clear packaging.”