Baby thermos kettle turns into "toxic glue" kettle? Netizens smash kettle at home to verify

In the past two days, many parents on social media platforms have been doing the same thing, dismantling their baby thermos bottles at home to see if there is white glue on the bottom!

The cause of this incident was that on September 24, many parents reported that they found residual white soft glue in the groove at the bottom of a thermostatic kettle of a well-known maternal and child brand. The video shows that the user used a small wooden stick to scrape the groove at the bottom of the thermostatic kettle, and some white colloid appeared. After filling it with water, the white glue floated on the surface.

According to the screenshots of netizens' videos, many netizens "tear up, smash and scrape" their own thermostats, and found that they could also scrape out a lot of gelatinous substances. Many parents said: "The sky has fallen!"

So, what exactly is the white glue that everyone scrapes off? Is it toxic? Can the thermostatic kettle still be used safely? This issue of "Health Focus" explains it to you!

1. What is the white glue in the thermostatic kettle? Is it poisonous?

Before talking about white glue, let's take a look at the structure of the thermostatic kettle . The baby thermostatic kettle is usually composed of a kettle body and a bottom plate. The kettle body includes the kettle body, kettle lid, heating plate, etc. Some may also have a bottom silicone ring. The baby thermostatic kettles on the market generally use high borosilicate glass for the kettle body, and 304 stainless steel (better ones use 316 stainless steel) for the bottom and lid. Both materials are food contactable.

But what has attracted widespread attention and concern this time is the bottom structure of the thermostatic kettle . In today's thermostatic kettle production process, adhesives are generally used to fix the glass kettle body to the stainless steel heating plate to ensure that it does not leak. The white glue scraped off by netizens this time is mainly these adhesives.

According to netizens' disassembly experiments, we can see that the bottom of the stainless steel kettle is fixed to the glass by glue. From the disassembly videos of many netizens, we can see that in most cases, these glues will not come into direct contact with the liquid in the thermostatic kettle. You need to use tools such as pliers to separate the glass and stainless steel to expose the glue. However, some netizens found in the evaluation that some glues are exposed and will come into direct contact with the liquid in the kettle.

So the key question is, what exactly are these glues? Will there be toxic substances precipitated when heated for a long time?

The adhesive currently used in thermostatic kettles is mainly silicone adhesive . Silicone adhesive, also known as silicone or silicone, is a synthetic rubber with good heat and cold resistance (from extremely low temperatures to about 200 degrees Celsius), electrical insulation and weather resistance. In many applications, silicone adhesive is considered relatively safe.

If the silicone adhesive used is food grade , it can usually be used to seal food processing equipment, kitchen utensils and containers because it will not leach harmful substances. If it is non-food grade silicone adhesive, there may be a risk of chemicals migrating into food under high temperature or prolonged contact.

On September 26, the reporter of Jingshi Live contacted the brand customer service, who said that the white colloid is a food-grade sealant, which is used to connect the glass pot body and the stainless steel chassis. It complies with the national standard (GB4806.11) and is food-grade material that has been tested and certified by the United States (FDA), the European Union (RoHS, RoHS 10 items), and the European Union (REACH, SVHC) and other authoritative testing and certification. It is resistant to high temperatures of -55~180℃ and can be used directly in contact with food. The customer service also provided an inspection report, the test point was the base of the milk pot (sealant), there were 4 inspection items, and the individual conclusions all showed that they met the requirements.

Despite this, many consumers are still skeptical. After all, it is not reasonable to say that the thermostatic kettle used for babies contains glue products, which can be easily scraped off.

At present, market supervision has intervened and will conduct further investigations on this type of products.

2. Can the baby thermos kettle still be used safely?

The baby thermos is an essential tool for many families to prepare milk powder for their babies and keep the water temperature constant. It is used almost every day. If there is a problem with this product, will the child drink "poisonous water" every day? This must be the biggest concern of all parents who use this type of thermos.

Many brands have launched slogans such as "The bottom does not contain silicone" and "Say NO to cheap glue bottles".

In fact, this is not the first time that this type of kettle has caused a "health crisis."

A few years ago, when health kettles were very popular, they usually had a sealing silicone ring at the bottom to connect the glass kettle body and the metal heating plate. At that time, although various brands and manufacturers emphasized that food-grade sealing silicone rings were harmless to the human body, the results of the test by Consumer Reports were a slap in the face.

In June 2019, Consumer Reports evaluated seven health kettles from well-known small appliance brands on the market and found that volatile compounds were detected in the rubber rings at the bottom of all seven health kettles. The content was 2 to 3 times higher than the relevant standards and statutory limits of Germany and France, and harmful substances to the human body were released during use.

Subsequently, the silicone ring process gradually became unpopular and turned to the glue fixing process with higher production efficiency and lower cost. A blogger introduced that currently 90% of the thermostatic kettle industry uses the glue process for fixing.

This incident does not mean that there is something wrong with the thermos kettle fixed with glue, but consumers still hope that the relevant departments can give a test result on whether this glue complies with regulations and is guaranteed to be non-toxic.

Finally, it is recommended that in order to use the baby thermos kettle healthily, you still need to pay attention to several issues:

1. Check the sealant of the thermostatic kettle regularly to ensure that it is not damaged or falling off.

2. If any abnormality is found in the sealant, the kettle should be replaced in time or the manufacturer should be contacted for repair.

3. At the same time, when consumers purchase constant temperature kettles, they should give priority to well-known brands and products with quality assurance to ensure the safety of family drinking water.