Glass Bakeware

In December, 2010, Consumer Reports put out a safety notice about glass bakeware that shatters. So if you're planning to do some family baking anytime soon, read on.

Pyrex and other brands of glass bakeware are a staple of many kitchens, with marketing that dates back decades, touting its versatile uses. In recent years, news reports and Internet postings about this bakeware unexpectedly shattering have some consumers worried about safety and confused about instructions.

Packaging may prominently say freezer-safe and oven-safe. But consumers might not be aware of warnings which can appear on the back of a label (in small print) with cautions about preheating the oven, cooling, use of liquids in the pan, and more.

The reports have generated enough buzz that World Kitchen, the Illinois-based manufacturer of Pyrex in the U.S., and its competitor Anchor Hocking — which own more than 75 percent of the glass bakeware market — have created pages on their websites aimed at debunking what they say are false and misleading reports.

In a nutshell, manufacturers blame the victims of exploding bakeware. Some consumers say the accidents they report were met with confusing advice about the proper ways to use the product.

To find out more about glass kitchen bakeware, Consumer Reports conducted a 12-month investigation that included testing in their labs and in outside labs, and gathered information from manufacturers, government agencies, experts, and consumers. Here's what they learned:

Consumers in scores of cases reported glass bakeware unexpectedly shattering, according to federal documents, court papers, and interviews. They (Consumer Reports) discovered at least 42 reports of injuries.

While hundreds of millions of dishes are used safely each year, it is believed that the situation is serious enough that Consumer Reports have asked the Consumer Product Safety Commission to investigate.

The American-made Pyrex and Anchor Hocking bakeware that was tested, is made from soda lime glass, shattered at lower temperatures in tough heat tests than European-made pans, which are made of a more expensive glass, - borosilicate. U.S. Pyrex and Anchor Hocking glass bakeware used to be made of borosilicate but no longer are (cost reduction programs).

When glass bakeware does shatter, consumers report, it can break into sharp shards that go flying, raising the risks of injuries. This contrasts with claims from one of the manufacturers that its glass bakeware breaks into "relatively small pieces generally lacking sharp edges."

A Case History

Patricia Szczcenia of Lansing, Ill., followed family custom, cooking a ham to go along with the roasted turkey. She says she baked the ham at 350 degrees in a Pyrex glass baking dish. But what happened when she and her daughter opened the oven door to baste the ham, she says, was anything but customary.

"The baking dish just exploded as my daughter was about to touch it, sending pieces of glass and hot juices from the ham flying everywhere," says Szczcenia, 63. "We had splash burns on our arms and the tops of our legs, and my 3-year-old granddaughter stepped on a piece of glass before I could get her out of the kitchen. I can't begin to tell you how scary it was."

She filed a report with the Consumer Product Safety Commission and contacted the manufacturer. The company said it is possible that she had not followed the bakeware's instructions and that it could not confirm that the product was Pyrex because she had not sent the shards for the company to examine.

Szczcenia says she has no doubt the dish that shattered was Pyrex because she'd just purchased it for her daughter a few weeks earlier, and as a loyal Pyrex customer for 30 years, she always looked for that label.

"I loved my old Pyrex, and I certainly know how to use it properly," she says, "but it seems like the only correct instructions for this new Pyrex would be not to use the dish near heat at all."

In recent years, news reports and Internet postings about some bakeware unexpectedly shattering have some consumers worried about safety and confused about instructions. Packaging may prominently say freezer-safe and oven-safe.

But consumers might not be aware of warnings which can appear on the back of a label in type this small with cautions about preheating the oven, cooling, use of liquids in the pan, and more.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions about glass bakeware by clicking here.

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