Self heating Wolfgang Puck lattes recalled en masse

Looks like the worlds most beloved slightly wonky Austrian chef extraordinaire is soon to have a PR fiasco on his hands. Those self-heating single serving Wolfgang Puck branded packs are being pulled from the market faster than you can say Spago. Puck's namesake company demanded brand-licensee BrandSource Inc. pull the products from stores nationwide after complaints of incidents where the cans overheated, leaked, or the calcium oxide found its way into the hot coffee beverage, resulting in some severely burned consumers. It gets sticky though, because BrandSource only licensed the name; OnTech was the company who provided the cans, and they apparently shoddily subcontracted, which has resulted in litigation between the two companies over some very shady dealings. In other words, if you see one of these cans, steer clear, people. The silver lining is, of course, that the recall couldn't have happened at a better time, what with spring officially sprung, and summer just around the corner. Perhaps Wolfgang should start looking into self-cooling Frappucino knockoffs, eh?

[Via Slashdot]

[Todd @ May 5th 2006 9:38AM]

Sweet...ad this to the exploding Sony laptop batteries, the exploding 52x CD-ROM drive urban ledgend and exploding cell phones. Combined it will make being at Starbucks fun.

http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/09/yes-its-another-exploding-cellphone-story/

[Derka Derka @ May 5th 2006 9:39AM]

How strange that these are actually built with less quality than the self-heating coffees I used to buy from the local store owners in Baghdad last year.

I suppose Wolfgang will find a lesson in this; do your homework on the companies you lend your name to, no matter how much cash they send your way.

Self-cooling Frapps... maybe they could be auto-cooled with liquid nitrogen. I'm sure that'd be Super Safe to use. (sarcasm off)

[TC @ May 5th 2006 9:46AM]

Who the hell is Wolfgang Puck? Sounds to me like rhyming slang for when your coffee explodes in your face.

[tiuk @ May 5th 2006 9:48AM]

He's a chef, he has a bunch of restaurants in the US. I think I ate at one once (I'm Canadian), I'm pretty sure I wasn't impressed.

[lupinstel @ May 5th 2006 11:18AM]

I was thinking of trying these simply for the gadget factor, but then I saw that it had gross tasteing fake sugar in it and passed.

[Hannah @ May 5th 2006 11:22AM]

Ah, I already heard about this. My brother (a student at Columbia University) used to be a big fan of these things, and the student-run snack delivery service he works for also sold them.

I do hope they put a better and safer version of these out on the market. I'm not into drinking coffee at all, but I totally geek out at the idea of self-heating coffee.

[aws910 @ May 5th 2006 11:27AM]

fake sugar. damn, I hate that stuff. My mom tried to pass of some of that crap in a pie. Nobody could stomach more than a bite of it.

[ginnal @ May 5th 2006 11:47AM]

Beautiful.

Maybe when a coffee explodes in your face you'll realise this is not the natural order of things.

[Gregg @ May 5th 2006 12:18PM]

I had great experience with these and they will be missed - i hope the product comes back out.

[Mike @ May 5th 2006 12:35PM]

All of these had been recalled at the Target that I work at but there was no explanation as to why. They were pulled several weeks ago so this isn't exactly breaking news, but I figured that the cans had been over heating. I took one that was going into the trash and activated it but nothing spectacular happened. If they can get the bugs worked out, these would be pretty handy. I just hope that teh self-cooling beer cans that are coming out don't have any similar issues.

[TIMMAH! @ May 5th 2006 12:38PM]

Cool, another set of hot coffee lawsuits!

[Leif @ May 5th 2006 1:15PM]

Before being recalled, these coffees were in the discount area of our local grocery store. They ran for a dollar each, even less than the already-refridgerated Starbucks frappuchino.

Didn't taste too great either. The can was heavy and created a lot of waste. Since when did you become a coffee expert, Mr. Puck? I hope your name becomes synonymous with people's food catching on fire.

[ross @ May 5th 2006 2:27PM]

I can understand having this for camping or for emergency/rescue situations but for general consumers what an act of terrorism against the environment. Our kids will be picking these things off the beach in the future if this trend continues. I hope Wolfgang gets self-heating potpie shrapnel in his face.

[CG Makarov @ May 6th 2006 11:18AM]

Wolfgang Puck's self heating drink almost got us arrested at the Phoenix Airport! They found scanned our take on bags and saw one in my Granddaughter's backpack, which we'd forgotten about. The whole like was stopped, security personnel brought over to look at the screen and we were baffled when they said it looked like we had a bomb in there! Twenty-five minutes later, after we activated it and showed them how it worked, we were allowed to go to our plane...with the advise to never try to take one of them through security again!
CG

[Rog @ May 6th 2006 6:02PM]

What the?! I just bought a pack of 12 from the store today and I found this article!! What a coincidence..but good to know :( looks like I'm just going to have to return them..

[Officer I. Irwin @ May 16th 2006 8:09AM]

I am a Security Officer and W.P. self heating coffees are great. Nothing wrong with the taste or the container. I get put on post where there is no way to get a hot cup of coffee, ie construction sites and such. I love having a few in my lock trunk for such occassions. I surely hope that a few bobo's will not be the end of such a great, and handy product.