Keurig recalls more than 7 million coffee machines

The affected machines are Keurig Mini Plus brewers made between December 2009 and July 2014. Keurig says it has received some 90 reports of injuries caused by hot liquid escaping from its machines.

Keurig Green Mountain Inc said it would recall about 7.2 million hot beverage-brewing machinesthat could overheat and cause injury by spraying hot liquids on users.

The affected machines are Keurig Mini Plus brewers made between December 2009 and July 2014 with the model number K10 and serial numbers starting with 31, the company said on its website.

The recall affects 6.6 million machines in the United States and 564,000 in Canada.

Keurig's shares were down 3.3 percent at $135.15 in light premarket trading on Tuesday.

The company said the machines could malfunction especially if used to brew more than two cups in quick succession.

Keurig has received about 90 reports of injuries caused by hot liquid escaping from the machines, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

Health Canada said Keurig had recorded 17 incidents of minor burns in Canada. (http://bit.ly/1vjxlmz)

The Keurig Mini Plus is a single-serve brewing machine used to prepare hot beverages such as coffee, tea and cocoa. It retails for about $100 and is sold through retailers, departmental stores and Keurig's website.

This is the second blow to the company in the past two months as poor coffee harvests forced Keurig to raise its prices, as our guest blogger Dealnews.com reported in August:

Keurig attributes the price hike to recent droughts and disappointing coffee harvests in South America, which have raised the price of Arabica beans by as much as 50%. However, the price increase is especially hurtful to consumers because Keurig's new machines will only work with Keurig-approved K-cups. Older machines worked with third-party K-cups, which allowed for a more competitive K-cup market and cheaper prices. With these new DRM-style machines, consumers have no choice but to buy Keurig-approved K-cups, since the new machines will not recognize unlicensed pods.

Keurig reported a 5 percent fall in net sales of brewers and accessories in the fourth quarter ended Sept. 27, including a provision of $22 million related to returns of Mini Plus brewers.