Brush bristle lodged in man's pancreas


 
Had a close friend get one lodged in her throat a few years back.
She had thought she was getting strep throat and turned very bad the next day. Went to hospital and found
a wire lodged in her esophagus.
Scared me enough. Have not used one since. Odds may be low, but why take the chance.
I just use ball of aluminum foil.
 
I get the grates as hot as I can get them, which burns off a lot and leaves the rest very brittle. Then the next day when they are completely
cooled, use a coarse Scotch Brite pad to clean off what was left. It is simple and works for me.
 
I had one of the wires stuck to a piece of pork I cooked a few weeks ago. Thing is, I always check the grate before I throw the food on. Couldn't believe I let one make it to the table.
 
Interesting, I try to check all the time for bristles, I just looked at one of the wood paddles at Costco. I didn't buy it but maybe I will, I would be devastated if one of my boys ate a bristle.
 
Would it make sense to blast a hot, scrubbed grill, with a jet of water to remove loosen possible brush particles? I used to do that on occasions with a cheap grill. I'd toss the hot grill on a hard surface and blast away. It was a good way of removing grease gunk.
 
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Bruno said:
Interesting, I try to check all the time for bristles, I just looked at one of the wood paddles at Costco. I didn't buy it but maybe I will, I would be devastated if one of my boys ate a bristle.
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I hear ya man. Drove me nuts thinking I could've let one of my boys eat that thing too. The offending brush was a bit long in tooth, but it was a good (brand name) one. My mother bought me one of those wire wound brushes as a gift not to long ago so I'll be using that from here on out. I've got to be honest though, it takes a quite a bit of effort to clean the grates off with the thing.
 
Rob_Fox said:
I hear ya man. Drove me nuts thinking I could've let one of my boys eat that thing too. The offending brush was a bit long in tooth, but it was a good (brand name) one. My mother bought me one of those wire wound brushes as a gift not to long ago so I'll be using that from here on out. I've got to be honest though, it takes a quite a bit of effort to clean the grates off with the thing.
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Same here. Couldn't bear the thought of my wife or one of our boys ingesting a bristle so I bought two of the wooden grill cleaning tools at Costco on Fri (one for the Genesis and one for the Performer, OTG and the WSM). Once I get the grooves set in each one I'll be good to go and won't have to worry about wire bristles ever again!
 
Like Rob VA, I too use a ball of aluminum foil. Cheap, no bristles to worry about, and throw away after use.
 
I will put a good stainless scrubber down and use my wire brush to slide it around the grates, works well and can be rinsed out and reused till it falls apart, no bristles are lost most of the time, paper towels wiped after a scrub works for me,
 
One thing I noticed with bristles is not only does the quality of the brush mean A LOT (many recall me only recommending Libman), but the type of grates the brush is run over matters as well. Many like me use only a relatively smooth SS grate (though this does not give absolution) though, the smooth round surface does not tend to break off the bristles of a cheap brush. Like say expanded metal grates might.
Brushes with bristles set in wood. IDC who made them are a no no.
As I have related I did have ONE incident when I could not find a Libman brush and had bought some cheap substitute at the Walmart or what have you. Thankfully I was the one who caught the bristle. All the food that night was thrown away and take out was gotten. And the brush was thrown away.
I am quite sure even a Libman used wrong/carelessly could possibly be a hazard. Though, I've never in countless years had an issue with one
 
I quit using the wire brushes years ago due to the potential of this, mine are of the stiff plastic and one bamboo with grooves cut into it...i spray canola oil on the grill and generally that keep things from sticking to it
 
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