Glasgow City Council (GCC) Trading Standards Officers seized over 5,900 counterfeit viral Tik Tok toys from a warehouse on Commerce Street last Thursday (4 June).
Aberdeen City Council (ACC) has also issued a warning after a number of fake squishy toys were seized from Aberdeen shops.
Many of the fake toys were dumplings, which come in a dim sum box. The rising popularity of these types of squishy has seen an increase in counterfeit, incorrectly labelled products which have not passed health and safety regulations.
Unsafe versions may contain substances such as phthalates, solvents and formaldehyde, and emit strong chemical odours. Safety risks include skin irritation, nausea, headaches, and even breathing problems.
The toys may present a choking hazard to younger children, and many do not specify any age warnings.
Products may fail to meet flammability standards and can split open, resulting in the unknown contents spilling out and posing further risk of harm.
Based on estimations from the government’s Office for Product Safety & Standards, each toy would have cost approximately £71 in terms of health and safety risks posed, damage to property, businesses losing sales, consumers having to replace items as well as time spent dealing with faulty products, claimed GCC, which claimed that the seizure meant approximately £419,000 had been saved.
Trading Standards teams will be continuing to visit further warehouses in the city.
Genuine squishy toys have a UKCA/CE marking, manufacturer details, age restrictions, safety warnings and instructions. If any of these are not on the packaging, the council claimed it was likely to be counterfeit and not safe.
Other warning signs include a strong or unusual smell and no ‘do not eat’ warnings for items that look like food.
Cllr Laura Doherty, Convener for Neighbourhood Services and Assets, said: “The items which have been recovered pose serious dangers to anyone using or playing with them.
“This intervention prevented over £400,000 worth of harm to consumers and businesses.
“Trading Standards will continue to monitor the supply and distribution of counterfeit goods through targeted inspections and enforcement activity, particularly within lower-cost retail sectors and non-traditional supply chains.”
ACC added: “Across the country, products submitted for testing by Trading Standards have reported results raising concerns with microbiological contamination and higher levels of substances recognised as hazardous.”
- Find your local Trading Standards contact details here to report counterfeit activity
