Ovens are a part of almost every household. Most of the delicious foods are cooked by using an oven and when it is used by you frequently, it tends to get dirty. Here comes the part about oven cleaners. Oven Cleaners are detergents that are used for cleansing ovens. But the question arises is it safe to eat food cooked in an oven with oven cleaners?
Cleaners are chemicals so they probably have harmful effects on the food that is being cooked after the use of oven cleaners. But what happens if you eat food cooked in an oven with oven cleaner? It can cause irreversible damage. But what should you do in that scenario? Let’s find out in this article.
How Do Oven Cleaners Work?
Oven cleaners are said to be caustic, with a high level of pH. This high level of pH is the reason that you can get rid of grease and other debris on the grills and other parts of your oven. You have to spray the cleaner around your oven and wait for 15 mins to 2 hours for it to do its magic. Oven cleaners are made of strong chemicals, that’s why some drops of it on your skin can irritate or burn the area.
So if oven cleaners are this toxic, the food cooked with oven cleaners can have harmful effects on your health. Let’s see if you eat food cooked with oven cleaners, what can happen to you.
Consequences of Eating Food Cooked In Oven With Oven Cleaner
After you let the cleaner sit around in the oven, you have to wipe it with a towel or rinse it off. But if you forget to do it and proceed to cook food, consequences are going to come your way.
- Fumes can contaminate the food
- You can vomit
- You can poison yourself
- Your digestive tract can get damaged
Fumes Can Contaminate the Food:
As the oven cleaner is caustic soda, when it gets heated it can produce smoke or fumes. These fumes can enter and contaminate the food that you are cooking or baking in the oven. As a result, you can feel the taste and smell of the food are a little stale. This is a sign that the food can be poisonous. The ashes and debris that the oven cleaner breaks down can also mix up with the food.
You Can Vomit After Eating That Food:
If you eat the food cooked in an oven with an oven cleaner, there is a high chance that you are going to puke as the hard and toxic substances will not be able to get digested. Your system will automatically make you vomit because caustic soda is highly poisonous and even if just the bits of it are in your food, you are going to feel like puking.
You Can Poison Yourself
Let’s get to the extremes. If the oven cleaner gets directly inside your food, you are just. poisoning yourself if you eat it. As the cleaners are made of caustic soda, if they get in your food in any way, your digestive tract can get damaged and the fumes and smoke can cause respiratory damage. Your heart can collapse with this.
Your Digestive Tract Can Get Damaged:
If you eat food cooked in an oven with an oven cleaner, there is a high chance that you won’t be able to stomach it. If there was a high amount of cleaner in the food, your stomach has to be washed off as caustic soda can cause irreversible damage. On the less harmful consequences, you can have pain in your stomach, intestines, and abdomen.
How Can You Know If The Food You Are Going To Eat Has Oven Cleaner In It?
Use your senses. If you are doubting about food cleaner being in your food cooked in an oven, take help from your senses. Firstly the smell will give it away. You will be able to smell the fumes in your food. If the temperature of your oven is high, the oven cleaner can also be transformed into smoke and ashes. So look if you find something strange within the areas inside and around your oven.
The food will be uneatable if there’s something wrong. Do not try to eat the food first if you detect something wrong. Trust your instincts when they say that you have oven cleaner in your food.
What To Do After You Eat Food Cooked In Oven With Oven Cleaner?
If you doubt that you have eaten food that had hints of oven cleaner in it, immediately go to the hospital’s emergency room and get yourself checked even if you are feeling well. After being exposed to these chemical fumes and substances, you can get yourself regularly checked because the food you ate can also have carcinogens that can cause cancer in the upcoming years. It is better to be cautious instead of waiting for something to happen.
Should Oven Cleaners Be Used At the Domestic Level?
Initially, the idea of oven cleaners came from commercially used ovens because they were frequently used to bake items at restaurants and other food points. So domestically using highly toxic oven chemical cleaners seems a bit too risky. Sometimes the cleaner can get too hot if the oven is on and it can cause a fire.
Ovens in houses do not require oven cleaners as the things baked in them aren’t anything extreme and they can easily be cleaned with a wet cloth with just a pinch of detergent. Make sure to use that self-cleaning function in your ovens.
What’s the Worst That Can Happen If You Eat Food Cooked In Oven With Oven Cleaner?
If your food is still in the oven with an oven cleaner, it can get caught on fire because of the high amount of caustic soda being heated. Some people may think that ovens aren’t that high to cause a fire, but you can never be so sure.
All the above-mentioned things, from vomiting to dying, can happen. You can never be so sure of anything while being exposed to highly toxic chemicals.
How Long To Wait After Using An Oven Cleaner To Cook Food In Oven?
When you are done cleaning the oven with an oven cleaner, you should wait up to 2 hours to bake anything in it. Make sure the door of your oven is opened in this while so anything harmful gets out. Oven cleaner can give a soapy smell that can get into your food, but this isn’t something to be worried about.
What Can Be The Alternative Of Oven Cleaners?
You can make your natural cleaner, instead of going for artificial substances with high amounts of chemicals in them. For making the cleaner, you just need the following things:
- Lemon
- Baking Soda
- Vinegar
Even though lemon and vinegar can also clean the oven individually, mixing them will make more difference. Mix the above-mentioned things and then spray it around and inside your oven. Let it sit around for an hour, at least. Then take some fabric or tissue paper and wipe off the surfaces. You will see that your oven is near and clean now.
Conclusion:
Eating food cooked in an oven with oven cleaner is a big no. It is harmful and poisonous to your organs and can have many effects on your health. Do not use oven cleaners for domestic purposes and do not forget to thoroughly clean the oven if you do clean it with the cleaner. You can never be too cautious with these things, so it’s better to not use them.
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