Brits issued urgent warning over air fryers as risks drastically increase

Sure, you might love your air fryer. Sure, you might be able to bang out a quick dinner in it. And we’re sure we’ve all heard you bang on about it enough.

But now there’s an important warning being issued for those of you using the handy kitchen gadgets to cook, well, pretty much anything.

It’s no secret there’s been a rise in popularity in air fryers recently – if your colleague isn’t bragging about theirs at least three times a week, one of your mates definitely are.

But as the efficient little cookers pop up in more and more kitchens around the UK, the risk of them has also risen.

Oh yes, your beloved air fryer might not be as safe as you thought and it’s important you’re using it properly.

The number of blazes where emergency services mentioned ‘air fryer’ in their incident reports are soaring.

After just 23 incidents reported in 2022, this year has seen a whopping 93.

This is even more staggering considering there were reportedly just 31 mentions of air fryers in fire incident reports between March 2015 and March 2021.

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And it could be even higher based on the fire services that didn’t respond, or you know, those slightly smaller little accidents where people may have not needed to ring for an emergency.

Although, the mention of ‘air fryer’ in the incident reports may not necessarily mean the gadget was the cause.

Turns out that 45 percent of UK households own an air fryer, according to Lakeland’s 2023 trend report, so experts have issued a warning to try and limit accidents continuing to rise.

An Electrical Safety First spokesperson said: “Air fryers especially have seen a huge surge in popularity in the last year and so as more of these items are used in homes it is likely that accidents involving these appliances may occur, and like all accidents they can be terrifying to experience.

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“Always register the product to make sure you are contactable in the event a fault is detected by the manufacturer.

“Never overfill your air fryer, and to avoid potential overheating, never plug the appliance into an extension lead.

“Make sure you keep your power cords away from hot surfaces to avoid damaging cables, which could pose a serious fire risk and always refer to the manufacturer’s instructions when it comes to cleaning your device.”

Food experts have also previously warned about keeping your air fryer clean to avoid accidents, such as a build-up of grease from all those bacon butties beginning to smoke.