What Are the Most Dangerous Cooking Products on the Market in 2019?

Cooking products are constantly evolving. This year, you might have bought tear-free onion cutting goggles, a heat conducting butter knife, or a snap on pasta strainer in the name of efficiency. While those products are probably harmless, some of the more complex cooking products might be more dangerous.

Some of the bigger products on the market are unsafe when not used properly. Even though pressure cookers, air fryers, and immersion cookers are on trend this year, that doesn’t mean that they are completely safe or easy to use. Here are the most dangerous cooking products on the market this year.

Pressure Cookers

Even though they’re not a new idea, pressure cookers have been on trend in recent years. While the first models of pressure cookers required you to time when to relieve the pressure on your own, the newest models do all that for you. But are they as safe as they’re reported to be?

The danger with pressure cookers is that they use high-powered steam that reaches temperatures as high as 300 degrees to cook your food. As a woman in Kansas City, MO experienced, if you open the compartment at the wrong time, hot steam or hot food could billow out and give you second or third degree burns. Or worse, if the lid is not placed correctly, it may not seal or lock, and then your pressure cooker could explode.

Air Fryers

Earlier this year, an air fryer caused a house fire in Florida. The man cooked a meal in his air fryer and went upstairs to eat it. When he returned to the kitchen downstairs, it was in flames. The fryer had caught fire after use, though it is not reported what made it catch fire. No matter the specific cause, it’s concerning that an air fryer started a fire.

What makes air fryers dangerous is how hot the air gets inside the appliance. If you stand too close to the fryer or open the food compartment while it’s cooking, you could get seriously burned by the air. There have also been complaints of air fryers shocking people while cooking. Either of these problems could be the reason that house fire started in Florida.

While this next aspect might not be dangerous, consumers claim that the air fryers emit electromagnetic fields (EMF) while cooking that mess with other devices. Although manufacturers argue that these reports are false, many reviews say that it caused problems with their other electronic devices.

Immersion Cookers

Lately, sous vide, better known as immersion cooking, has become a more mainstream technique rather than just used by professional chefs. Unlike the other two products above, this is not a cooker with an enclosed area where the food goes. Instead, the food is cooked inside a sealed plastic bag that is then immersed in hot water, and there is a device that measures water temperature.

One of the main components of this cooking method is that the water is hot, but the container it’s in does not have a lid. This could be dangerous because people could get burned by reaching in, depending on the water temperature. Other than the equipment, there are food-related dangers.

Many people are concerned because the food is cooked inside plastic. Since the plastic is heated, chemicals could seep from the plastic into the food. On top of that, bacteria could grow in the food since sometimes it does not get heated to very high temperatures. In that case, critics are worried about botulism, which is a serious disease caused by bacteria in some foods.

Instructions are Important

When cooking with trendy products or techniques, make sure lids are on correctly, don’t overfill any compartments, and make sure you’re using cooking safe plastics and other utensils. The best way to steer clear of danger while using these products is to diligently read their instruction manuals. Companies should also strive to make their products as safe and easy to use because they could easily acquire a product liability case when a product becomes dangerous even though the consumer is using it properly.

When you’re cooking with a new device, you might expect the food to turn out wrong, but you probably don’t expect the appliance to harm you. When a product unexpectedly injures you or damages your property, a product liability lawyer from Bey & Associates, LLC can help you file a claim against the company. Our attorneys in Cincinnati will represent you against the manufacturer so that you can get compensation for your damages. Reach out so we can discuss your case today.