Microwave Safety

Title: Microwave Safety
By: Isabel Robson
URL: www.fish-and-vegetarian-recipes.com

The majority of health and safety incidents occur in the home.
To raise better safety awareness should be a priority for manufacturers but also for retailers.

Manufacturers already include safety instructions with their product however, not everyone reads the manual for a household product.
Retailers have the opportunity to brief the consumer of safety issues before delivering the product.

Microwaves can be a high risk product is serious caution is not applied.
We all know about not putting metal inside a microwave but not everyone is aware of the danger of superheated water!

Although it is rare, heating a liquid or even water in the microwave presents a hazard because it can explode.  A microwave can superheat the water
(above 100 degrees Celsius) and and the liquid can explode out of the container once removed, causing third degree burns to face and hands.
Great care must be taken to avoid a similar occurrence.

The water can over heat beyond boiling temperature without vapour bubbles.  This can happen when water heats up quicker than the bubbles can form.

 As the bubbles cannot form and release some of the heat that has built up, the water does not boil, and the liquid continues to heat up well past its boiling point.  When foreign materials such as instant coffee or sugar are added before heating, the risk is greatly reduced as it disrupts the molecules and allows bubbles to form. 

If superheating has occurred, a slight disturbance or movement such as picking up the liquid container, pouring in a spoon full of chocolate or introducing a metal spoon, may result in a violent eruption with the boiling water exploding out of the liquid container.

Most importantly, please do not try this at home.  It is extremely dangerous to over heat liquids in the microwave, which result in a serious injury.

How to prevent Super-Heated Water?

• Do not use a microwave to heat liquids if another alternative is available.
  
• Follow safety instructions in microwave manual.
• Do not over heat liquids beyond recommended heating times.
• Upon heating ingredients in microwave, allow 2 mins to stand before     touching it or adding any other ingredients.

Avoid using plastic containers or food wrap in the microwave:
Plastic contains dioxin chemical which has been linked to cancer. 
Dioxins are poisonous to our body cells, specially when combined with fatty foods.

Please share this information with your loved ones as it may help prevent a serious incident and possible scars.

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