Sunbeam Products Recalls Nearly One Million Crock-Pot Multi-Cookers

With winter's chill already in the air or at least around the corner, it's just about the perfect time to dust off the Crock-Pot and start (slowly) going to town on some stews and chilis. But before you do, you should check to make sure that your particular model wasn't the subject of a new, significant recall.

This week, Sunbeam Products initiated a voluntary recall of roughly 942,000 of its Crock-Pot 6-Quart Express Crock Multi-Cookers. As an announcement from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission notes, the cookers "can pressurize when the lid is not fully locked." In effect, this means the lid can detach when in use, potentially letting hot foods or liquids explode outward and burn nearby consumers. The offending item was sold to consumers at nationwide retailers like Walmart, Target, and Amazon between July 2017 through November 2020.

The threat of injury isn't abstract, either. According to the announcement, Sunbeam has been informed of 119 reported lid detachments, resulting in 99 burn injuries. Those have ranged from first- to third-degree burns, so this definitely sounds like a recall you shouldn't ignore.

The good news is that you don't have to throw out your Crock-Pot multi-cooker in order to remedy the situation. While consumers should contact Sunbeam Products to get a free replacement lid, the Crock-Pot multi-cooker is still usable for slow-cooking and sautéing while waiting for a replacement. Until the lid is replaced, though, any pressure cooking should be avoided.

Hopefully this news doesn't completely derail any plans you had to pressure cook any part of your Thanksgiving dinner. But if we've learned anything from deep-fried turkey mishaps over the years, it's that nothing ruins a meal like bodily harm. This year has sucked enough already.