Culture
Your Memorial Day Nemesis: The Wire Grill Brush
Hundreds of Americans have been hospitalized after accidentally eating some nasty bristles.
It’s a time-honored Memorial Day tradition: Slapping some brats on the fire, slathering them with kraut and mustard, then driving to the ER to have sharp pieces of wire grill brush removed from your esophagus.
At least that’s what’s happening to scores of Americans, to believe a study in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. David Chang at the University of Missouri School of Medicine and others poured through consumer-injury records to extrapolate nearly 1,700 emergency-room visits from 2002 to 2014 caused by people eating brush wires. The problem is these implements can shed hard-to-see follicles that stick to the grill, which are transported via food into the throat, oral cavity, tonsils, and even less-fun places.