Ellen Phiddian
Cosmos science journalist
Expanding the kitchen gadgetry with an air fryer? Want to see what all of the hype is about?
While they certainly have their uses – particularly in speed – you may want to re-read the instructions before cooking your first schnitty. Like all new cooking methods, they can carry some risks.
Lydia Buchtmann, CEO of the Australian health promotion charity Food Safety Information Council, says air fryers came to the council’s attention over some food poisoning detective work.
“It was raised that there had been sporadic cases of food poisoning – and here’s good recognition of our food detectives out there, normally the local council or local health authorities,” Buchtmann tells Cosmos.
“Normally, you get a cluster of food poisoning: people have [gone to] a specific place or there’s a problem with a specific food. But these were just sort of random, scattered around the country.”
Eventually, they figured out the common thread was crumbed food made in air fryers.
“So it wasn’t a specific food, it was just a specific way of cooking. And when you think back to when microwaves first came in, there were also similar little outbreaks because people didn’t quite know how to use microwaves properly.”
The central risk of an air fryer, according to Buchtmann, is not heating food up enough – particularly crumbed food.
“People think air fryers are little ovens, which essentially is what they are, but they do heat a little bit quicker… Crumbed products like schnitzel or parmigiana, that look cooked on the outside, may not be cooked all the way through on the inside.”
The Council ran a survey of 1,229 Australians through Omnipoll.
“They’re really popular – 2 in 3 Aussies surveyed have one in their household,” says Buchtmann, “and they use them quite often. 54% use it weekly, and another 38% use it several times a week.” So, how do you avoid getting sick with your air fryer?
“The general advice we put out to people is, firstly, look at the instructions that came with the air fryer, which gives you recipes and advice on how to cook things,” says Buchtmann.
Then, check the instructions on food packages for any specific food advice.
“We asked people, when they were cooking crumbed packaged foods, whether they could see air fryer instructions on food packaging. This is a legal requirement, they should have cooking instructions or preparation instructions,” says Buchtmann.
“It was quite good: 44% air fryer owners said they saw instructions most of the time on the package of crumbed packaged foods, and another proportion found them occasionally.
“So we’re really encouraging manufacturers, because of this risk, to get in there and actually put air fryer instructions on the packaging as well.”
If you’re still writing your wishlist, Buchtmann suggests adding “meat thermometer” to the request for the air fryer – particularly if you’re hosting this year.
“Mince products, sausages, burgers, poultry, must be cooked to 75°C in the centre, otherwise it’s a risk of food poisoning. And you can’t do that by looking at it. You have to have an actual thermometer.
“It doesn’t have to be fancy, just a cheaper probe thermometer is fine. If you want to do get something fancy for Christmas, then you can get ones with apps and Bluetooth that will measure your perfect roast in the oven for you.”
That said, there’s no reason to avoid the meat specials on Christmas Eve.
“We don’t want food waste. We’re happy for people to buy meat near its use-by date, as long as they either eat it that night, or they freeze it,” says Buchtmann.
