Safety Alert on Cleaning Grills.

Please review the information that was passed on by a Montell Bayport Employee concerning an incident his daughter was involved in:

The individual cleaned the cooking surface of a gas grill a couple of weeks before the incident occurred with a wire brush but did not wipe it off after cleaning and did not immediately use the grill. His wife cooked several hamburgers on the grill a couple of weeks later and all were eaten except for two. These two hamburgers were heated up the next day to be eaten. When his daughter took one bite of her hamburger and immediately after swallowing she complained that a chunk of hamburger was caught in her throat. Initially, the thought was that a piece of the hamburger was caught in her throat. However, it was realized that this was not the problem, so her mother transported her to the hospital.

Once they ruled out a piece of hamburger caught in her throat, the hospital staff took an x-ray of her neck. The x-ray showed a piece of fine wire lying across her esophagus below the epiglottis. Based on the results the hospital staff had her transferred to Children’s Hospital in Galveston.

After further tests it was decided that they would have to operate. Initially, the procedure was to take only 20 minutes but doctors were unable to find the wire. Specialists were called in surgery took 6 hours. The wire had pushed through the esophagus wall and ended up in the muscle tissue of her neck. The wire had also punctured the esophagus in several locations, causing bleeding. Due to surgical trauma, her lips, nose, neck, eyes and face were extremely swollen and she experienced bleeding from her lips and nose. Fortunately, all turned out well and she left the hospital three days later.

What had caused this incident was a strand of wire from the wire brush was left on the cooking surface of the grill and when hamburgers were grilled it stuck to one of the hamburgers. After she took a bite and swallowed the hamburger she also ended up swallowing the piece of wire, which was attached to the hamburger.

Key Leanings from this incident.
If you use a wire brush to clean your grill make sure to wipe the grill off with a cloth, paper towel or something else before using it. Also, inspect the underside of the lid to make sure no strands of wire are stuck to the underside of the lid. Best practice is not to use a wire brush for cleaning. Some individuals use a paint scrapper to clean the grill.

One could cover the surface of the grill before grilling with extra heavy duty aluminum foil and this would prevent contact with the grilling surface.

Don’t transport persons in need of serious medical attention. Use a licensed ambulance service. The wire could have pierced her carotid artery, or wire been lodged above her epiglottis and dislodged, she could have inhaled the wire, which could have went to her lung and caused created a life threatening situation. If this had happened in route to the hospital, there would have been no medical professionals to treat her.