As French authorities investigate the death of a fitness blogger reportedly hit by an exploding whipped cream canister, the whole world is wondering: Are these gizmos dangerous? In short, yes.
But first, the good news
Cans of aerosol whipped cream you can find at the grocery store aren’t the issue. So keep using your Reddi-Wip. Just don’t hammer a nail into it, or put it near open flame (but all that’s on the can, silly).
So fancy gourmands are the ones who need to worry?
Yes. Gourmet whipped cream makers like the one Rebecca Burger was apparently using rely on gas capsules to pressurize a metal container canister, which creates the whipped cream. Under some circumstances, those capsules can be expelled like a bullet at high speed.
Burger’s family Instagramed a warning: “This an example of a chantilly siphon that exploded and struck Rebecca’s thorax, resulting in her death. Do not use this kind of utensil in your home! Several tens of thousands of defective devices are still in circulation.”
Burger is believed to be the first person to die from such an explosion.
But there have been many injuries
Five dozen such injuries have resulted since 2010, according to France’s 60 Million Consumers magazine.
“It is, to our knowledge, the first time there has been a death from such an explosion,” said an editor. “We knew it would happen one day.”
The periodical has “warned readers for years about faulty connectors on the gas capsules” that can gas capsules to break and shoot out, according a BBC News report.
Reports of injuries reaching back to 2010 have included broken teeth, tinnitus and, in one case, the loss of an eye, according to 60 Millions.
One victim of an exploding cream dispenser walked away with six broken ribs and a broken sternum. But things could have been much worse.
“At the hospital,” the victim is reported to have said in a French radio interview, “I was told that if the shock and blast had been facing the heart, I would be dead now.”
The number of accidents related to exploding dispensers were numerous enough for the government office to issue a warning.
One manufacturer issued a recall, according to BBC News. 60 Millions the magazine claims that new dispensers manufactured after 2015 appear to be safe.
The manufacturer of the kitchen product Burger used, Ard’time, said the appliance has not been on the market since a “first incident implicating a siphon” in February 2013.
Products were withdrawn from the market and destroyed, a company statement said, and other efforts made to alert consumers.
