FAQs on Plastic Products Used with Food

The answer is complex—involving reports of flying glass and rebuttals calling “exploding” Pyrex® merely an urban legend.

Here’s the story: After hearing many frightening complaints about Pyrex® glassware that “exploded” during use, in 2008, Snopes.com had a Chicago TV investigative team research the matter to find out whether Pyrex® products were (in the words of stats.org) “weapons of glass destruction.” The resulting TV report left the strong impression that Pyrex® glassware was dangerous, and the matter got a lot of attention. Stats.org called the story “the second hottest urban legend on Snopes.com.”

True, the original Snopes.com report did contain some errors (later corrected), but the fact remains that hundreds of users have claimed that their Pyrex® glassware suddenly broke apart, in some cases shooting out sharp glass shards that caused injuries. These occurrences weren’t actually explosions, which, are caused by pressure from within (as happens when a bomb or balloon bursts). However, they were still scary, dangerous events. These incidents tended to occur when a glass dish was moved from the oven and placed on a counter (especially a cold, wet one), but there was also at least one report of breakage while the dish was still in the oven.