Thursday, October 15, 2009

Pyrex Scare - Things That Go Boom

Good Evening One and All!

Here is another e-mail which I received today, and not knowing how many if any has seen this I thought I would put it "out there". It was sent to me by a very reliable source, and was written by a very reliable source. I even looked it up on the web under Pyrex dishes and Consumer Affairs popped up with innumberable stories and accounts of pyrex disasters. I have been using Pyrex all the time. Now,I am sure having second thoughts about it. Please read this and hopefully stay safe.
PYREX E-MAIL

I don't like to send "scare" stories without first checking with Snopes.com, but I did, and this one is true. Please read, and share with others you care about.

This a must read: Pyrex Dishes I HOPE EVERYONE TAKES THE TIME TO READ THIS MESSAGE.. Got any new Pyrex dishes in your cooking utensils? This is a must
read.

I checked at Wal-Mart and all the warnings are there.

About 5:30 PM there was a loud bang from the oven. Sylvia opened the oven door and the Pyrex dish had shattered into a million pieces. The roast beef (our first in many months) was peppered with small shards of very sharp glass. Normally, I am quick to inform Sylvia she
did something stupid. However, this time she was nowhere near the stove when it blew. I shoveled the glass and the now mashed potatoes into a bucket with two putty knives. I then sucked the remains with the shop vac. I let everything cool down and then scrubbed the oven
with Simple Green and some hot soapy water. It took over an hour to clean up the goo. Uponcompletion I ran the oven empty to see if the temperature controller was working okay. I suspected the oven got too hot and the dish simply blew. This was not the case, however.
The oven came up to temperature and cycled normally. We threw a disgusting frozen pizza in the oven and it cooked okay. What is going on? I Googled exploding Pyrex dishes and got ten million hits. Exploding Pyrex is very common.

Here is the story.

A long, long time ago in a country we all know and love was a company named Corning. They made Pryex dishes. The material they used is called borosilicate glass. This stuff is indestructible but like everything else, the Bottom Liners had a great idea: sell the technology to another company. The Chinese discovered that using soda lime glass was almost as good as borosilicate glass and a lot cheaper. Today, Wal-Mart is the largest distributor of Pryex
products. Corning not only sold the technology to a company called World Kitchen, they also sold the rights to the original Pyrex logo. Seamless. The consumer will never know.

Now it seems people are getting hurt using soda lime Pyrex. We were lucky because the dish broke while the oven was closed and the damage was limited to the oven cavity. Others have been less fortunate. Some dishes explode when they are lifted from the heating rack in the oven with devastating results. Some people are heavily scarred.

World Kitchen is in denial. They say that the dishes are another brand, not theirs. Contrary to their denials the victims usually have more than one of these dishes and the Pryex logo is clearly visible.

If you buy a Pryex dish beware. The label on the front says oven safe, freezer safe, microwave safe. The instructions on the back tell another story. You cannot move a soda lime Pyrex dish from the freezer to the oven and expect it to survive. The fine print goes on and on about what you are not allowed to do with the Pyrex dish. The fine print has prevented World Kitchen from being sued because they have warned the consumer that their Pyrex dishes are junk from the get go. And they are the same price as the original Corning dishes.

What to do?

If you own borosilicate Pryex dishes, no fear. They have to be morethan 25 years old to be sure they are indeed Corning dishes. I am not sure if the old Pryex dishes have anything stamped in them that indicates they are made by Corning. You may continue to use the soda lime dishes for holding stuff. Just do not attempt to roast or microwave with them as the hazard is very clear.

The reason the soda lime dishes let go is that over time, they develop micro-cracks. Once a few micro-cracks are present and once>some liquid finds its way into the cracks you have the bomb situation. The liquid is like shoving a crowbar in the dish and pulling it apart. Super heated liquids expand rapidly and it is the super heated liquids that force the soda lime glass to shatter into tens of thousands of shards.

Since Corning no longer makes Pyrex and Sylvia proudly holds a large collection of the soda lime Pyrex, we decided that one bomb in the kitchen is enough. The Pyrex dishes will go bye-bye in this week's trash. I don't know what we will use for cake and pie dishes going forward. If you have some suggestions, we are listening.

I strongly urge you not to use the soda lime Pyrex for the oven, stovetop or microwave. The slightest invisible crack is all it takes to have a mess and a possible injury.

In case you are wondering, World Kitchen is not a USA company.

Carole Martin>
Program Assistant>
Harris County Department of Education>
http://us.mc826.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=cmartin@hcde-texas.org

Live Simply, Love Generously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly and Leave the
rest to God. Rejoice in the Lord Always - Phil 4:4

This is really very disturbing because I use Pyrex all the time. I plan on still using it, but not to cook in. I will cook in something else, then transfer the food to the Pyrex. I hope that will remedy the situation.

I hope this has been as informative to you as it was for me. I really like doing these types of posts where I feel I can be informing and helpful. These and Scriptural posts are my favorite. At least this way, I have something to say that may benefit someone. Let me say that I think it is a bit strong for her to call everyone that buys Pyrex (including herself) losers,it just we were uninformed. Thank you Carole for informing us of this unfortunate problem.

I spent some time on The Bible Page on Facebook tonight. It was pretty good, but I couldn't find anything that I could elaborate on. I hope y'all will take my suggestion and check it out. I enjoy doing that. I can see how the little quizzes and things like that could get old, I got to where I wasn't getting on FB very often, until I found this page, and now I try and get on there a little bit every night.

Remember: Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways, acknowledge Him
And He shall direct your paths.

Include God in everything you do and you can't go wrong.

Well, I guess I will close for now.

Good night, and May God Bless!

PJ





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2 comments:

Nessa said...

You won my Extraordinary giveaway. Congratulations!

Angela said...

Oh lovely..I bought all these new ones over the last few months. Trying to keep my family safe from plastic...I haven't baked with it yet, and will probably not do so now either..

Yaya sent me your way...Blessings dear sister.