Lock & Lock mismarked thermoses

Household products maker Lock & Lock will recall 6,525 thermoses sold between January and May 28 after errors were found in the manufacturing date marked on the products, the company said yesterday.

Allegedly the company changed the date of manufacture to make the products look newer and sell off stocks, local broadcaster YTN reported.

Lock & Lock said in an official statement that it found the error in the manufacturing dates during quality inspections from last August to December and that it did not intentionally manipulate the dates.

“Although there was no problem in terms of product quality such as the thermal insulation and the appearance, we decided to recall the whole batch under our policy that no mistake in the manufacturing process should be tolerated,” said Yoon Jo-hyeon, CEO of Lock & Lock, in the statement.

The broadcaster reported that it found an official work journal that spelled out the technique to manipulate the date of manufacture, with such advice as, “It is difficult to remove the date with methanol, therefore it should be erased with metal mold cleaning cleanser,” and, “When even a little bit of the original manufacturing date is visible, it cannot be used.”

The products with wrong manufacturing dates are four items: the Hot Tank Thermos, Hot Tank Integrated Thermal Insulation Lunchbox, Hot Wave Thermos and Mountain Thermos.

The products were manufactured between 2009 and 2010 but were misrepresented as being manufactured in 2011. Consumers who purchased the items between January and May can call customer service and receive replacements.

“I would like to deliver my sincere and heartfelt apologies to the customers for the errors in the manufacturing dates and will make the utmost efforts to improve the quality and prevent a future recurrence,” said the CEO.

By Kim Jung-yoon [kjy@joongang.co.kr]