A kitchen cooker and processor in one, the Thermomix can cook pasta, stew meats, boil liquids, steam vegetable, crush ice or grill meats among other thing. This high end appliance costs around $2,000. Unfortunately, the appliance has some serious safety issues. There have been 87 complaints, 18 of which required medical attention. Eight people were hospitalized with one victim needing treatment in a special burns unit for 3 weeks, according to the Guardian.
A consumer advocacy group, Choice, has collated a mass incident report. Forty-five people have reported being injured by their Thermomix cooking appliance, and the company has been accused of “blaming the victim and downplaying the danger posed by the device.”
Choice documented 83 complaints regarding the TM31 model which was recalled in October 2014. “Choice has received reports that lids have come off on their own (either propelling off or from vibrating into unlock mode while operating in anther function. There were also reports of consumers saying they have been harmed using their machine at lower speeds and of consumers who say they have been harmed because the measuring cup has been forced out of the lid,” the report said, SBS News reports.
Choice said it wanted the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissioner (ACCC) to investigate. One customer reported being burnt by hot soup when using the appliance. Another consumer reported hospitalization and permanent scarring from Thermomix failures.
There had been reports concerning the sealing ring that did not seal properly causing the contents, usually boiling hot, to “explode” out of the container sometimes causing the serious, usually upper body, injuries. Yet, allegedly, many were told “user error” was to blame when they notified the company, reported Choice’s spokesman Tom Godfrey.
“A responsible company should have acted quickly to address any dangers with products but, based on consumer reports, Thermomix Australia took more than a year between initial notification and recall,” Godfrey told.
