1 POSSIBLE HAZARDS IN HEATING MICROWAVABLE PRODUCTS

first bring up the topic of the real hazards of microwave ovens, namely, problems associated with overheating and peculiar heating effects upon foods. Prior to that, I had published a paper in Microwave World (1) discussing problems in the performance of microwavable popcorn products, which included fires. I had also written a letter to the editor of Microwave World discussing questions relating to the use of microwave susceptors in terms of their capacity to overheat products and perhaps cause hazardous conditions as a result. There had also been some indication in the medical literature (2) (3) of problems associated with microwavable foods, mainly, steam burns caused by steam pressure from popcorn packages, and the scalding of infants due to excessively hot baby formula. It is the purpose of my paper to look at some of the possible hazardous conditions which may result when heating food in microwave ovens, and try to find an explanation for their cause. Where possible, I shall also attempt to recommend procedures that can be used to avoid or overcome such problems. The possible problems that can occur with foods in microwave ovens can be categorized as follows