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Kitchen Inferno — burn baby burn, demon air fryer!

Another image generated by a request to Meta AI for an illustration of ‘a non brand air fryer on fire’.

15 Nov 2024

That headline you read about the Air Fryer End of Days having arrived may not be telling you the whole truth. Or not in the headline at any rate. It’s the details that tell the story. And not very well.

Goodbye to the air fryer! The headline screamed at us on our phones this week. More than 280,000 air fryers were being recalled “because they are dangerous and can catch fire” – here is the list of affected models”. This, illustrated by an image of a house with its roof ablaze. Let’s find the truth.

The danger of a sensationalist headline is that those people who don’t read the story beyond it may presume it’s the truth, and take the supposed “facts” in the headline at face value.

And they tell all their friends, who tell theirs, who tell theirs, and in days, minutes or even seconds (such is the speed with which social media spreads both truth and falsehoods) a large number of people have bought into what may be a scurrilous bid to mislead us all.

Take the example of the “more than 280,000 air fryers”. (Only two of them are named towards the end of the story, neither of which actually caused fires.)

Immediately, you’re picturing that photo up there. An inferno in the kitchen, occasioned by the demon air fryer you swore you would never buy – and now look! I knew I should never have bought an air fryer!

Where to start? If I say I have three air fryers, three different brands, sizes and shapes, and none as yet has caught fire – well, that would be a start, but not enough. Because yes, an air fryer can catch fire – it can – but does that mean it will?

Cars can catch fire. So can fridges, washing machines, tumble dryers, toasters, microwaves and ice cream machines. Indeed they have. (I looked them all up, and without exception they are as much of a kitchen menace as the air fryer.) Even cellphones can catch fire, but you don’t often see people running down the street screaming with a blazing phone in their hand, do you?

Are you going to get rid of your car, fridge, washing machine, tumble dryer, toaster, microwave, ice cream machine and cellphone lest they possibly, maybe, perhaps one day catch fire?

Even the image above is a fake generated by AI, at my request. “Imagine a non-brand air fryer on fire,” I asked. Sure, said Meta AI, here you go. It actually gave me four images to choose from. Here’s another…

Another image generated by a request to Meta AI for an illustration of ‘a non brand air fryer on fire’.

Fake news is, however, far more widespread than incidences of blazing air fryers.

The sensational headline referred to above was from a story by Unión Rayo, a media outlet related to Rayo Vallecano, a suburban Madrid football club. For no explicable reason, they have a US counterpart, same name, same branding, but spewing stories about all manner of dire things that spell the end of this or that product or brand “forever”.

Read that headline again, because this is something they seem to do. Here’s another from the Unión Rayo US website: “Goodbye BMW – recall of this exact model due to serious airbag failure – see if your car is on the list.” And another: “Goodbye GM – recalls its best-selling electric vehicle due to fire risk – here’s the list of affected models.”

The inference being that an instance of fault with a particular BMW model heralds the demise of the entire brand. We all know this is nonsense – even Toyota has had model recalls due to a faulty component, and they’ve been the world’s leading seller of cars for the past four consecutive years.

And pity poor Hyundai, in another Unión Rayo report: “Farewell to Hyundai forever – Recall all Hyundai of this model because they release a very flammable and dangerous gas.” Oy.

The leap from “there appears to be something wrong with a component of this car/appliance” to “farewell forever” is as scurrilous as it is ridiculous.

When you read on, the story changes somewhat.

The article explains that “some manufacturers have ordered some recalls of various models because they present serious health problems, and, in the face of these problems, doubts have arisen among consumers as to what to do if their fryers are the affected models”. It goes on to say that social media is “full of cooking influencers who teach you how to use it” but that over some months “several models of this fantastic appliance have quietly disappeared from stores due to the continuous complaints of some customers”.

The conclusion is quickly jumped to that this has “served as a warning to manufacturers that their products were not good” and that “some fryers even endangered physical health and the home by causing overheating, burns and even small fires inside the house”.

So the “Goodbye to the air fryer” of the headline has been whittled down, by the authors, to “some” having allegedly endangered physical health and “even small fires”. Maybe.

The story further states that the three main problems reported (no source is given) have been “overheating of cables, breakage of components while the device is in use, and excessive heating of the door”. (This, illustrated by a photo of a house with its roof ablaze, remember?)

These faults, it says, not unreasonably, “not only put the operation of the machine at risk, but can also cause burns and other accidents”.

Risk. Can cause. Small fires. Key words that do not add up to “your house is gonna burn down”.

Next up, a word you never want to see in a real news story: apparently.

“Apparently it is related to the increase in competition and the popularity that these fryers have gained,” is the claim made in the next paragraph.

After conceding that air fryers do have “many facilities and advantages”, are healthier and take up little space, a sombre warning tone is adopted: “But, with all power comes responsibility, and its fame has caused manufacturers to increase their production massively at a much lower price in order to reach all pockets, which has resulted in a neglect of quality and safety from the moment they leave the factories.”

And then, finally, follows what led to a decision to write their story: the recall in March 2024 of Insignia air fryers after 24 cases of overheating, melting or glass shattering were reported.

The story correctly states that air fryers can overheat, causing the handles to melt or break. Additionally, the air fryer ovens can overheat and the glass on the door can shatter, posing fire, burn and laceration hazards. These are known facts, or possibilities. This does not mean there are multitudes of houses having been burnt down by fires started in air fryers.

The story continues: “It is estimated that the problem began to be noticed in March, when more than 280,000 units of the well-known Insignia brand were recalled. In this case, consumers claimed overheating problems that could mostly cause skin burns (and in very extreme cases, even small fires). For example, it was noted that the internal cables overheated far beyond the limits set by the manufacturer.”

March 2024 was when the recall that sparked the story took place, so there’s no need to “estimate”. This is easily verified, and the actual facts sourced. Let’s find some actual facts.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission, on its website, under the headline “Best Buy Recalls Insignia® Air Fryers and Air Fryer Ovens Due to Fire, Burn and Laceration Hazards”, says 187,400 units of Insignia 3.4-qt. Digital Air Fryer model NS-AF34D2 were recalled in the US in March, adding that an additional 99,900 were sold in Canada.

This amounts roughly to the “more than 280,000” of the Unión Rayo headline. So, even though the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has not recalled the 99,900 in Canada, as they are presumably outside of its remit (Canada being a different country and all), the extra 99,900 Canadian units have been added in to beef up the scariness of the big number.

So, not all air fryers then, not even all Insignia air fryers. And not for burning houses down, no incidents of which are claimed. Not even kitchens. Not even air fryers, only the danger of them catching fire.

How far are we now, then, from what that headline seemed to claim?

The Unión Rayo story lists a second product: “On the other hand, the Newair brand recalled 11,750 Magic Chef units due to similar problems with overheating and defective components that broke as they were used.”

On its own website, Newair (Little Chef) details its product recall: “This recall involves the Magic Chef Air Fryer Digital Air Fryer oven with model numbers MCAF56DB (black) and MCAF56DW (white). Magic Chef is printed on the top of the fryers and the rating label on the bottom has the brand name Magic Chef along with the model number. The air fryers measure about 13 inches by 15 inches by 14 inches.”

It adds: “Incidents/injuries: None reported.”

Let’s rest the case there. DM

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