Warning - Pyrex isn't what it used to be...

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum. I wasn't sure where to put this but felt all should be warned about this since it's a very real problem.

I received this in an email. Usually I don't even bother opening them, but this came from a trusted friend, and she included the snopes.com link....

www.snopes.com...

It seems that the original Corning Pyrex that we all grew up with and loved is no longer a Corning product. They sold out to a company named World Kitchen. Someone somewhere decided that the virtually indestructible borosilicate was just too good, so they decided to use soda lime glass which was supposed to be just as good, oh and by the way, a lot cheaper. Hmmmm, since the latest product (used by at least 25 yrs) is sold for the same price, wonder what the motivation for the change was?

Now, when using the new Pyrex, you can't take the dish from the freezer to the oven, or use it to heat things up if it has microfractures. Apparently there are a lot of other things you can't do with it now too. It's all in fine print on the back of the box the dishes come in.

The danger? It'll explode, many times into tiny little shards.

Oh, the Pyrex still sold in Europe is the borosilicates, so no worries over there.

Edit-fixing typos

[edit on 10/14/2009 by willow1d]

[edit on 10/14/2009 by willow1d]

That's so bizarre! Was just recently contemplating the prospect of this. When taking a pyrex from the fridge to the microwave, I heat it at a lower setting first to bring it up to room temp and then heat. Thanks for the info.

I LOVE my pyrex from the 1970s.

but if you notice, they just don't make ANYTHING like they used to.

thanks for the heads up, I will keep buying my pyrex at garage sales!!

reply to post by justine093


according to snopes, pyrex has been soda lime glass since 1946!!

it's possible that the glass was always prone to shatter 1 in 10,000 times but that people were less likely to complain or report it in the past.

I once made the mistake of turning on the wrong burner on my stove top that had a 9x13 oblong glass dish sitting empty on the burner. I don't remember if it was Pyrex or not, suddenly I hear a LOUD pop and that glass dish shattered and flew every where in my kitchen. I had glass shards land up to 6 ft. away.
My young daughter was sitting on the floor in front of the heat vent at the time and thankfully, the glass missed her. Some shards were very big, and I had one of those adrenalin moments where you think you or your kid is going to get seriously injured. It took me a minute to realize what had happened.

I'll never ever leave a glass dish on the stove top again. Too darn dangerous!

AFAIK, glass is always vulnerable to microfractures and scratches. That's why glass cutters work.

Pyrex is usually OK to go from cold to hot. From hot to cold, you're taking your chances. But it seems to me it's best not to tempt fate. Don't subject glass to sudden temperature changes, and don't use glass utensils that show evidence of scratches.

I'm not really sure if it's cos they have changed the material or just my stupidity - but I'd just taken a stew out of the oven, placed it up on the hobs (no heat - just that's the best place for it) I took the lid off and I've got a large wooden chopping board where I normally put the lid.... It must of been slightly damp on the chopping board, as soon as I turned away from it I start hearing 'tink tink tink' - straight away I've realised but by the time I've grabbed my tea towel to lift it up it broke into 4 or 5 pieces - and that was a really handy sized one as well

I just had a pyrex plate shatter and slice me quite badly after microwaving for a few minutes of course it was sold as microwave friendly and was only a few weeks old and pristine.

It struck me as very strange given the pyrex reputation for being extremely heatproof and shatter proof but after doing a google search and finding 126 pages of complaints and some nasty injurys due to this stuff now I'm throwing the rest out.

Another company putting people at risk for short term profits and another company who have now lost me as a customer for life.