PetSmart to Pay $4.25 Million Penalty for Failing to Notify CPSC of Hazardous Fish Bowls

PetSmart has agreed to pay a $4.25 million civil penalty for failing to immediately report hazardous product defects in its imported fish bowls, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said (here). The company received at least 19 reports of the fish bowls cracking, breaking or shattering during use, causing injuries to consumers, but failed to notify CPSC of the defect, the commission said. PetSmart also failed to identify the correct amount and distribution dates of the fish bowls that posed a laceration hazard, causing CPSC to have to expand a 2014 recall covering 10,200 fish bowls to cover another 81,300 fish bowls that posed the same hazard in 2015. PetSmart has also agreed to maintain an “enhanced compliance program” and a system of internal controls and procedures, CPSC said.