Why can't you put metal objects in the microwave? Why you can’t put metal utensils in the microwave What dishes can’t be put in the microwave

A new, very convenient microwave oven has appeared in your kitchen. Do you have good microwave cookware? You have already carefully read the instructions for the new device and you know that not every plate or pan is suitable for use in the microwave. What kind of dishes can be safely put in a microwave oven?

Which dishes are not suitable for the microwave

Not suitable for use in microwave oven dishes of the following types:

• Metal: copper, brass, steel, cast iron enamelled. Microwaves do not pass through metal, food cannot be heated; it is also possible the appearance of spark discharges, dangerous for the microwave.
• Porcelain and glass, if there is a pattern on its surface. This mainly concerns the pattern applied with gold paint. Even if the decorative strip or ornament has already worn off to a large extent, these residues can spark when used in the oven. But metal particles can also be contained in matte paint, which does not look like gold at all. Therefore, it is better to put dishes in the microwave without a pattern at all.
• Crystal. Crystal contains lead, silver and other metals. In addition, the faceted surface crystal tableware inhomogeneous in thickness. All this can lead to the transformation of a crystal glass or dish into a handful of fragments right inside the microwave.
• Disposable tableware made of waxed cardboard or plastic.
• Plastic, not resistant to high temperatures.
• Ceramics self made unglazed on all sides.
• Tall aluminum molds for reheating or baking in a conventional oven.

However, it is possible to put food packed in an aluminum container with low sides in the microwave for several minutes to warm up, but only under certain conditions. It is imperative to open the container and install it in such a way that its edges are located at least 2 cm from the oven walls. Still, it is better to transfer food to glassware for greater safety.

Also, do not put food tightly closed with a film or lid inside the microwave. There should be holes in the film to allow steam to escape. Otherwise, you will feel like a hero of an action movie - an explosion in the microwave will not take long.

When using glassware, it is not recommended to use thin-walled containers. It is also necessary to carefully examine the dishes - are there any defects in the walls and bottom: air bubbles, cracks, chips. All defects of this kind can cause the glass to suddenly crack. Glass can shatter into pieces both inside the microwave and when you take it out. Both options are dangerous.

It is also impossible to use porcelain and faience crockery which has cracks and chips. Don't forget: thick faience and porcelain absorb microwaves quite strongly and heat up. Do not try to take out a heated dish without oven mitts if it is in thick-walled ceramics.

The best microwave utensils are glassware made from tempered refractory or heat-resistant glass. Refractory glassware can also be used in a conventional oven. The walls of such plates and pots are thick and durable, they practically do not heat up under the influence of microwaves, since they do not absorb them.

To begin with, one pan with a capacity of 1.7 - 2 liters is enough. Its lid can be used as a plate if high sides are not needed. You can use ordinary glass glasses with thick walls, salad bowls, plates, if they have no defects.

It is allowed to put dishes made of porcelain and earthenware in the microwave if its surface is not decorated with drawings. Fully glazed ceramic dishes are also suitable.

But what about plastic? Here you need to be very careful. Not every plastic is suitable for use in the microwave. Be sure to make sure that there is a special marking on the bottom of the container: the icon with schematic representation microwave oven. Plastic must withstand heating up to 130-140°C.

It is absolutely unacceptable to put plastic in the microwave oven, on which there is no such sign. And it's not even that plastic container may simply deform or melt during cooking. When heated, low-quality plastic begins to decompose with the formation harmful substances, which enter the atmosphere and dissolve in the food that is in the dishes.

Do not buy cheap plastic of unknown production. Even if there is a sign on it that allows the use of a product for cooking in a microwave, it is not at all a fact that the plastic meets safety requirements and the marking is true. You can only trust trusted, well famous brands purchased from a store capable of presenting quality certificates.

Particularly common are low-quality Chinese-made microwave utensils. In the country of industrious people, a huge amount of goods is produced almost in a barn. It is clear that the plastic used there is the one that is cheaper.

Polyamide and polypropylene plastics are allowed for use in a microwave oven. Polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are completely unsuitable; polyethylene should be treated with caution.

A few more points regarding polymers in the microwave:

• If your microwave oven has a grill function, then it is better not to use plastic.
• If you want to not just warm up, but cook a dish, then plastic is not suitable for cooking dishes using sugar and fat. These components are easily heated to temperatures at which the plastic begins to deform and melt (we are talking about sugar crystals).

You can heat up small amounts of food without special plates or pans. A bun or hot dog can be wrapped in parchment paper or a linen napkin. You can also use special porous bags available for use in the microwave.

Polyethylene microwaving should be avoided. Thin polyethylene film will simply melt from the rise in temperature, and the thick one may begin to spread bad smell which will ruin your products.

To get an appetizing golden crust on products, you can purchase special dishes from glass ceramics. Its bottom is covered with a layer special composition which gets very hot when exposed to microwaves. First, the container must be held in the microwave without food so that the bottom heats up. Then carefully lay the pieces of meat or vegetables on the heated bottom. After browning, the dishes can be closed with a lid and the products covered with a delicious crust can be brought to readiness.

Helpful Hints

For many, the microwave oven is just a lifeline. This is especially true for those who need to quickly have breakfast and go to work, or those who need to quickly heat food in the office.

4. Eggs in the microwave.

There are many ways to cook eggs. One of them involves the use of a microwave oven. However, the egg needs to be cracked first if you want to avoid a mess.

The egg inside the shell heats up very quickly when put in the microwave. Steam is created inside the shell. When the shell can no longer handle the pressure, it explodes.

Microwave cooking

5. Food containers.

In an ideal world, these containers should be designed to be easily and safely used to heat food in the microwave. But, as you may have guessed, this is not the case.

Some containers may have metal handles, which, when heated in the microwave, act in the same way as foil.

6. Paper bags.

At first glance, there is nothing wrong with warming up food in an ordinary paper bag. However, this can have some unpleasant consequences.

Brown paper bags can release toxic smoke when heated - it soaks into food, making it unhealthy. They may also ignite.

food in the microwave

7. Breast milk.

First, milk can heat up unevenly, which can be dangerous for a baby's sensitive mouth. Second, heating in a microwave oven can destroy the immune-stimulating proteins found in breast milk, and this in turn reduces its usefulness.

8. Thermos mug.

Such mugs are taken on a hike. They are made from of stainless steel and may not allow heat to warm their contents. If you put the mug with the contents in the microwave, then the latter can be spoiled. However, if the thermos mug is made of plastic, then it is worth checking its bottom, which, as a rule, indicates whether it is safe to heat it in the microwave.

9. Meat in the microwave.

Frozen meat is not easy to defrost in the microwave - when its thin edges already begin to bake, the thick middle is still icy. And this applies only to those ovens where there is a rotating stand. But if it is not there, then the heat will be distributed even more unevenly, and this leads to the development of bacteria in the meat. It is best to move the meat from the freezer to the refrigerator - this is the most effective method its defrosting.

10. Gold-plated dishes are not microwave safe.

Beautiful plates and cups with gilding used to be very popular, but you should not put them in the microwave to warm something up. And all because the metal parts can reflect microwaves, and they return to the magnetron, thereby heating it. Inside the microwave, you will see only small sparks that will fly off from the gilding.

Bonus:

Harm of an empty microwave

Do not turn on the microwave if there is nothing in it. The fact is that the magnetron, which produces microwaves, begins to absorb them, since there is nothing else to do (there is no food and water inside the microwave). In addition to damaging the oven, it can also cause a fire. Make sure you don't accidentally press the "Start" button.



The traditional microwave oven is household electrical appliance for home use, which is intended for cooking and heating food, as well as emergency defrosting of food. But very often the microwave can fail due to the fault of the owner.

So let's see why you can't put metal objects in the microwave?

If placed in the microwave metal utensils or cutlery, then, most likely, it will immediately fail. Moreover, such consequences are not the worst. In the worst case, a rather powerful explosion occurs, which is a danger to human health. Experienced microwave oven users can attest to the fact that the operating instructions for this household appliances do not allow the use of metal objects of various types.

But for the sake of sporting curiosity or by chance, almost every one of us had to violate this Golden Rule. What could we get as a result? An explosion, a lot of sparks, or the final breakdown of an electrical appliance?

If you put a metal object in a microwave oven and turn it on, you can immediately witness the three options described above further development events. AT best case, but it happens very rarely, the dishes will start to spark and you will need to stop the operation of the appliance as soon as possible. But if for some reason you fail to turn off the microwave, then a strong explosion may occur. Such consequences will lead to an absolute breakdown of the equipment and may injure a person.

But why is this process taking place? Let's try to understand in more detail the main physical processes that occur during the operation of this type of household equipment.

In a microwave oven, food is heated using microwaves. Physical Features These waves do not allow heating food in this dish. When using dishes open type you can still hope for partial heating of food. In a sealed container, you can not try to heat food in this way. Moreover, in this case, there will be a complete repulsion of microwaves from the walls of the metal. They will have a devastating effect on the functionality of the microwave oven.

A modern person buys a microwave oven in order to heat food to the required temperature in the shortest possible time, and not to conduct all kinds of experiments that may pose a threat to his life. Therefore, with strict adherence to all instructions and operating requirements, this household electrical appliance will last for years to please its owner with high reliability of work and huge amount functions.

If you think a little about whether there are any modern research about the use of microwaves, about its impact on the human body, about food processed in the microwave, what experts can say ...

After the Second World War, secret research conducted by the Germans with microwave ovens fell into the hands of the Allies. These documents and some working samples were seized by US intelligence. But the Russians also got a few working samples. As a result, a number of studies were carried out that revealed an extremely negative degree of exposure to microwaves on products and the human body, and a ban was imposed on the invention. And in the United States, on the contrary, they began to massively and everywhere introduce microwave ovens, despite the warnings of physicians. Let's see - why is a microwave oven so harmful?
After the war, the Allies discovered medical research conducted by the Germans with microwave ovens. These documents, as well as some working models, were transferred to the United States for "further Scientific research". The Russians also received a number of such models.

How does a microwave oven work?

Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic energy, just like light waves or radio waves. These are very short electromagnetic waves that travel at the speed of light (299.79 km per second). AT modern technology microwaves are used in the microwave oven, for long-distance and international telephone communications, the transmission of television programs, the operation of the Internet on Earth and via satellites. But microwaves are best known to us as a source of energy for cooking - the microwave oven.

Every microwave oven contains a magnetron that converts electrical energy into super-high frequency electric field a frequency of 2450 Megahertz (MHz) or 2.45 Gigahertz (GHz), which interacts with water molecules in food.

Microwaves "bomb" the water molecules in food, causing them to spin at millions of times per second, creating molecular friction that heats the food. This friction causes significant damage to food molecules, tearing or deforming them.
Simply put, the microwave causes food to break down and change its molecular structure through radiation.

Who Invented Microwave Ovens?

The Nazis invented a microwave cooker for their military operations - "radiomissor". The time spent on cooking in this case was sharply reduced, which made it possible to focus on other tasks.

After the war, the Allies discovered medical research being done by the Germans with microwave ovens. These documents, as well as some working models, were transferred to the United States for "further scientific research." The Russians also received a number of such models and conducted a thorough study of their biological effects. As a result, the use of microwave ovens in the USSR was banned for some time. The Councils have issued an international warning on substances harmful to health, biological and environmental, produced by exposure to microwaves.

Eastern European scientists have also identified the harmful effects of microwave radiation and created severe environmental restrictions on their use.

Microwaves are dangerous for children!

Some of the amino acids of L-proline, which are part of mother's milk, as well as in milk formulas for children, are converted under the influence of microwaves into d-isomers, which are considered neurotoxic (deform nervous system) and nephrotoxic (poisonous to the kidneys). It's a shame that many children are fed on artificial milk substitutes ( children food), which become even more toxic with microwave ovens.

Scientific data and facts

A comparative study on Microwave Cooking published in 1992 in the United States states:
"FROM medical point of view, it is believed that the introduction into the human body of molecules exposed to microwaves is much more likely to cause harm than good. Microwaved food contains microwave energy in molecules that is not present in food products prepared in the traditional way.

A short-term study showed that people who consumed microwaved milk and vegetables had changes in blood composition, decreased hemoglobin and increased cholesterol, while people who ate the same food, but cooked in the traditional way, did not change the state of the body.

Swiss Clinical Research

Dr. Hans Ulrich Hertel participated in a similar study and worked for a large Swiss company for many years. A few years ago, she was fired from her position for disclosing the results of these experiments. In 1991, she and a professor at the University of Lausanne published a study showing that microwave-cooked food may pose a health risk compared to cooked food. traditional ways. The article was also featured in Franz Weber #19, where it was said that eating food cooked in microwave ovens has a malignant effect on the blood.

At intervals of two to five days, volunteers received one of the following food options on an empty stomach:
(1) raw milk;
(2) the same milk heated in the traditional way;
(3) pasteurized milk;
(4) the same milk heated in a microwave oven;
(5) fresh vegetables;
(6) the same vegetables cooked traditionally;
(7) frozen vegetables thawed in the traditional way; and (the same vegetables cooked in the microwave.

Blood samples were taken from volunteers immediately before each meal. Then a blood test was performed at certain intervals after the intake of milk and plant products.

Significant changes were found in blood at meal intervals exposed to microwaves. These changes included a reduction in hemoglobin and a change in the composition of cholesterol, especially the ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) to LDL (bad cholesterol). The number of Lymphocytes (white blood cells) increased. All these indicators indicate degeneration. In addition, part of the microwave energy remains in food, using which a person is exposed to microwave radiation.

Radiation leads to the destruction and deformation of food molecules. The microwave creates new compounds that do not exist in nature, called radiolytics. Radiolytic compounds create molecular rot as a direct consequence of radiation.

Microwave manufacturers claim that microwaved food does not have much of a difference in composition compared to conventionally processed food. But none State University in the United States has not conducted a single study on the effects of modified food in the microwave on the human body. But there is a lot of research on what happens if the microwave oven door is not closed. Isn't this a little strange? Common sense dictates that attention should be paid to what happens to microwaved food. One can only guess how molecular rot from the microwave will affect our health in the future!

microwave oven modern women It's a first aid technique. Microwave speeds up the process of cooking and heating it. However, there are many opinions regarding the safety of its use. Specifications There are certain restrictions on the use this device in the kitchen. Let's take a closer look at how to properly use the microwave, and what absolutely can not be put in it.

There is a lot of controversy regarding the effects of electromagnetic waves of the oven and their human. But what there is no doubt about is the occurrence of undesirable processes formed under the influence of high temperature on some items placed in the microwave. Such consequences include fire, explosion, loss of product quality. In order for the microwave to bring only benefits to the hostess, it is necessary to eliminate the use of the following items.

plastic utensils

Despite the label on plastic container about the possibility of using it in the microwave, you should not use such dishes. The legislation does not provide for mandatory testing in the process of its production. Plastic releases when heated estrogen-like substances, which then enter the products. With prolonged heating of a container made of not very high-quality plastic, it may even melt. Heating food in cling film will also lead to the transfer of carcinogens from plastic to food.

Plates with gilding

The use of gold-plated ceramic utensils may create a spark and ignite. This is very dangerous not only for technology, but also for humans. Plates with beautiful gilded patterns, which many inherited from their grandmothers, are not suitable for microwave. As a result of the use of such dishes, there can be very serious consequences (about what can be used - in the article).

Porcelain

Porcelain tableware of the post-Soviet period. Previously, dishes were produced using other technologies, with a different quality. Due to the fact that the main message was the duration of the use of dishes, and not its ease of use and beauty, they added heavy metals(lead, etc.). These components are dangerous when used in the microwave.

metal objects

The use of metal utensils and cutlery is also prohibited. Metal reflects microwaves, which can cause an explosion, and the technique can be thrown away. In the worst case, injury could be caused by standing near the furnace during the explosion. Iron elements, when heated, form a spark, which will lead to a fire inside the furnace. The consequences of improper operation of the microwave can cause a fire.

paper boxes, aluminium foil from fast food or from restaurants Chinese food also banned. An exception may be parchment for baking.

Unwanted Microwave Foods

For long-term operation of the microwave, it is necessary to use the correct dishes, and for human health, cook allowed foods in it. There are several restrictions: not all foods are recommended to be subjected to high heat treatment. Consider which food items cannot be placed in the microwave.

Before reheating cooked food or preparing a dish fast food, certain rules must be followed.

1. Do not use products that deteriorate under the influence of high temperature (yogurt, kefir).
2. When reheating ready-made meals packed in paper bags or plastic containers, it is better to transfer them to ceramic or glass dishes.
3. Make sure the microwave does not run idle.
4. Reheat food only open container.
5. Avoid contact with any plastic utensils.

After cooking, it is necessary to remove droplets of fat and food residues in a timely manner. by conventional means used for washing dishes, but not containing abrasive substances.

If you follow the simple ones, you can ensure its long service life and cook delicious healthy food.