Pressure cookers are safer now, thanks to mandatory ISI certification

The safety and quality of the ubiquitous pressure cooker has finally got the attention of the government- from February 1 , all manufacturers of this cooking gadget will have to mandatorily comply with the Indian Standard and also carry the standard mark, as a pre-condition for sale

The safety and quality of the ubiquitous pressure cooker has finally got the attention of the government- from February 1 , all manufacturers of this cooking gadget will have to mandatorily comply with the Indian Standard and also carry the standard mark, as a pre-condition for sale.

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The popularity of these domestic pressure cookers in India is well known, but what is unknown is the exact number of accidents and injuries caused by defective or poor quality cookers in the country. However, some of the shocking cases described in medical journals , those reported in the media, online consumer complaints and the cases filed before the consumer courts seeking compensation for the injuries caused by defective pressure cookers, all point to the very serious threat posed by poor quality pressure cookers and thereby, the need for mandatory certification. Besides severe burn injuries, sub-standard cookers have caused fractures, blindness and even death.

The Indian Journal of Neurotrauma (2018), for example, reports on the severe trauma and loss of vision in the right eye suffered by a 30-year old man when the metallic head of the pressure regulator, propelled by the steam from a malfunctioning pressure cooker, hit him so hard that it got lodged inside his eye socket. The penetrating orbital injury required a complicated surgery to remove the metallic part and also the bone fragments.

A 57-year old woman in Khunti district, Jharkhand, suffered a similar life-threatening injury when the cooker’s pressure regulating device got lodged deep inside her face. She had kept the pressure cooker on the stove and got busy with some other work for almost an hour. When she did remember and tried to remove it from the gas stove, the steam ejected the metal part like a bullet from a gun Doctors extricated it after a lengthy surgery and saved her life, but could not restore her vision.

In January 2018, two girl students of a private nursing college got hurt when a pressure cooker suddenly burst at their hostel mess in the outskirts of Shimla. In Feburary, a female mid-day meal worker suffered burn injuries on her arm and face after a pressure cooker exploded in the kitchen of a government senior secondary school in Chandigarh. In another case reported in 2015, the cooker lid opened before the complete release of the pressure (instead of remaining locked), spewing boiling food on the face of the user.

Another lesser known danger from poor quality pressure cookers is the leaching of toxic heavy metals into the food, thereby necessitating quality control in respect of the choice of materials used not only for the container and the lid, but also the various parts including the pressure regulating device, safety valve and the gasket. .

Besides manufacturing defects and spurious spare parts, consumers’ failure to follow usage instructions have also led to serious accidents. It’s for this reason that the Indian Standard (IS) 2347 not only specifies the quality of the pressure cooker, but also lays considerable emphasis on the manufacturer providing fully illustrated usage instructions and warnings. Each cooker should indelibly and legibly indicate the necessity of reading instructions before use, the standard says.

However, since many consumers who use the pressure cooker may not be literate enough to read the instructions or even comprehend the illustrations, manufacturers should also be asked to take up consumer education on safe usage through television advertising. Retailers should also take the responsibility of instructing consumers about the proper use of the cooker at the time of purchase.. They must also warn consumers about spurious spare parts.

Today the pressure cooker market has undergone a sea change. Unlike the cookers of yesteryear, they are now available in a variety of designs, materials , shapes and colours . The size of the market can be gauged from the fact that the Bureau of Indian Standards now has a list of 340 licensees and there could well be many more who are yet to get the license for use of the mandatory ISI mark ! What is now required is strict enforcement , so that every pressure cooker marketed in the country is absolutely safe.