Like Magic - Frego Keeps Hands Safe While Handling Hotness
It’s like magic! A soup heated at 100% for 2:00 minutes in a microwave is removed with bare hands that attest the container is cool to the touch.
How can this be? It’s a little bit of the magic behind frego. Frego was designed with safety in mind. That’s why the inner container of glass does all of the work in heating up its contents while the exterior FDA silicone sleeve surrounding the glass remains cool and calm at room temperature. The sleeve extends an extra few millimeters beyond the top glass edge just to ensure the hands don't burn.
With safety at the heart of frego’s mission and design, we are happy to serve an audience of caregivers of young children and aging adults who previously had limited options for their loved-one’s safe handling of heated foods. With frego, hands – childlike or elderly – are protected.
As agile, functioning adults, we might take for granted our swiftness and confidence in heating up foods, transferring them from a hot oven or over-the-stove microwave. Not all of our population experiences this. Many struggle or are at risk to complete the basic task of safely heating up foods. We found The American Burn Association’s Scald Injury Prevention, an educator’s guide, very helpful in detailing some science and environmental factors while suggesting ways to prevent scalds or burns.
Young Children
The guide points out that young children have thinner skin resulting in deeper burns than adults for the same temperature and exposure time to a scalding substance. The proportion of a child’s body that is exposed to any given amount of a scalding substance is also greater: the same cup of spilled coffee will burn a much larger percent of a small child’s body. Small children also have little control of their environment, less perception of danger and less ability to escape a burning situation on their own. Children grow fast and can reach new, dangerous things every day. They do not realize that hot liquids burn like fire.
Selected Scald Injury Statistics for Children
Approximately 21,000 children were treated for scald burns.
Among children ages 4 and under hospitalized for burn-related injuries, an estimated 65% are treated for scald burns.
The total annual cost of scald burn-related deaths and injuries among children ages 14 and under is $44 million. Children 4 and under account for more than 90 percent of these costs.
Older Adults
Older adults, like young children, have thinner skin so hot liquids cause deeper burns with even brief exposure. Their ability to feel heat may be decreased due to certain medical conditions or medications so they may not realize water is too hot until injury has occurred. Because they have poor microcirculation, heat is removed from burned tissue rather slowly compared to younger adults.
In addition to young children and older adults, people with disabilities are also at a higher risk for burns and scalds. So with those reminders, who among your family and friends could benefit from a little extra care and precaution in food prep and transfer?
This October, be safe. Check out the Scald Injury Prevention guide, which also includes some great specific tips for microwave scald prevention including a suggested age 7+ to operate a microwave.
This October, prep your kids’ or parents’ meals in frego, knowing that they’ll be able to safely heat up your hearty vegetable soup and enjoy all of the flavors of fall. Just like magic.
