Labor Day weekend typically brings Americans together for one last round of summer cookouts, but grillers are being warned to inspect their barbecue tools before lighting the flames this year.
A major recall that previously covered more than 1.7 million metal wire bristle grill brushes has now been widened to include over 3.6 million products sold through Walmart, TJ Maxx, Burlington, Ross and Amazon.
The expanded recall applies to Cuisinart-branded grill brushes that have been available nationwide for several years.
According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, the danger comes from metal bristles that can loosen and break away from the brush during cleaning, then stick to food cooked on the grill.
If someone accidentally swallows one of the wire bristles, the incident can quickly become a serious medical emergency.
The risk is heightened because the thin metal pieces can be extremely difficult to see after they detach from the grill brush.
That means a loose bristle could remain on a grill surface even after cleaning and later end up in a burger, steak or other grilled food.
No deaths have been linked to the defective grill brushes, but officials have received at least 54 reports of detached bristles, including three cases in which people ingested the metal wires and needed medical treatment to have them removed.
Among the recalled products are Cuisinart’s Steam Clean Grill Brush, which was sold between 2024 and 2025
The recall was initially announced for around 1.7 million Cuisinart brushes, but Conair has now expanded it to include another 1.9 million products, bringing the total to more than 3.6 million.
The affected products are Cuisinart metal-wire grill brushes featuring black plastic, stainless-steel or wooden handles.
They were sold both individually and as part of grill-tool sets, with affected model numbers including CCB-100, CCB-4125, CCB-5014, CCB-6450, CCB-8012, CCB-4114, CCB-W2 and CSBS-777.
The brushes were sold between June 2009 and March 2026.
That means the potentially dangerous tools could have been stored beside a backyard barbecue for more than a decade.
That includes recent models like the Cuisinart Steam Clean Grill Brush and the Triple Bristle Grill Cleaning Brush which dates back to 2013.
They were available at retailers like Walmart, T.J. Maxx, Burlington, Ross and Amazon, as well as directly from Cuisinart.
Prices typically ranged from about $8 to $20.
These products are typically used to clean grills in between uses, although the metal bristles can come lose and be ingested by customers
These products were sold at major retailers like Walmart, as well as TJ Maxx, Burlington, Ross and Amazon
The CPSC warns that ingesting one of the metal bristles can cause serious internal injuries and may require surgery.
As a result, consumers who own a Cuisinart grill brush are being told to stop using it and check the official recall information to determine whether their product is affected.
If a customer own one of the impacted brushes, they should contact Conair for a full refund or a credit to use at Cusinart’s website ‘plus 20 percent of the cash refund amount,’ the company states.
Consumers are also being asked to discard the recalled grill brushes.
The recall comes after years of horror stories surrounding wire grill brushes. Back in 2024, Jessica Doster from Indianapolis, Indiana, recounted her wire bristle medical emergency to Our News Outlet.
‘I took a couple of bites [of my shish kebab] and immediately knew something was wrong,’ Doster told us.
She had swallowed a wire bristle from a cleaning brush that was hidden in her meal, leaving her to cough up $12,000 in medical bills.
An x-ray and CT scan confirmed a metal bristle was puncturing through her oesophogus – and a four-hour procedure to retrieve the wire was unsuccessful and left Jessica unable to speak for 28 days.
