Domestic pressure cookers
Nowadays, the housewives’ multiple daily activities require domestic tools that save time and energy. pressure cookers offer great advantages regarding these issues, such as vacuum seal and maximum temperature use, which allows reducing cooking time noticeably.
With trade opening to the international market, we currently find a wide range of pressure cooker makes and models in our country, national as well as imported, for which the PROFECO lab took it upon itself to perform a quality study on these products with the goal of verifying that they meet the minimum safety and operation requirement for their marketing in Mexico.
Which pressure cookers were analyzed?
The study included a total of 15 different pressure cooker model (corresponding to eight brands), from which nine were aluminum and six were stainless steel. A total of 285 were applied in eight national and seven imported models.
What tests were applied? The study was based in the NOM-054-SCFI-1998 regulation, “Domestic utensils-pressure cookers- Safety”, whose parameters were met by every analyzed pot, and included the following tests.
Manual analysis:
it was verified if the manufacturer or importer provided with instruction manuals indicating necessary information concerning use, care, safety recommendations and basic maintenance, as well as installation of accessories included in the pressure cooker, in a clear and precise fashion, in Spanish.
Finishing:
a visual and physical inspection of the parts that constitute a pressure cooker was performed, noting that finishing problems did not detriment the product’s quality. The product was inspected for rough edges, sharp parts, crack and poor accessory assembly; the latter should mount and dismount without using tools, and they should be assembled with enough firmness to endure normal use. In addition, the type of construction was verified as well as materials and design, which will reflect in its durability.
A sample of the products was also taken in order to detect if they displayed deformities or leaks when injected with pressure water or filling at full capacity (hydrostatic pressure test and hydrostatic pressure of body-lid separation); a second sample was taken to apply seven tests to measure the pressure that the pot generates in the interior, when closed hermetically and over a heat source: real work gauge pressure, pressure regulator, security valve or fuse tampon, handles and vacuum seal.
