A Thursday afternoon in the kitchen took a drastic turn for Cristal Miranda of Olathe, Kansas.
On April 20, in the process of cooking refried beans, Miranda says she started blending pinto beans that had been cooling down for more than 2 hours.
Miranda was using a NutriBullet RX. The model has a “souperblast” mode, an option to heat soup while blending.
“When I put [the beans] in, they heated themselves. I didn’t push the button for the heating. There’s a little circle that you click on. I didn’t do that because I was going to refry them,” said Miranda. “When I went to open them, it felt warm. When I went to open it that thing burst like completely.”
After Miranda started to open the container, both she and her 16-year-old niece Emily Sanchez said they heard a sound similar to a 20 oz. bottle of soda being opened after the bottle has been shaken.
According to Miranda, the scolding hot beans burst out of the container, some if it hitting the kitchen ceiling, some causing second degree burns to her face and chest.
“I can sort of remember my screaming. Because I’ve never felt so much pain, immediately I dropped to the floor,” said Miranda.
“When I first saw her I thought it was pretty bad. I wasn’t sure how life was going to be for her after that,” said Sanchez, who was in the kitchen with her aunt at the time and was the one to call 911.
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Similar reports of NutriBullet explosions are beginning to surface.
Kansas City-based KSHB reached out to the makers of NutriBullet via phone and email over a period of multiple days and did not receive a response at the time of publishing.
Miranda says doctors with the University of Kansas Hospital’s Burn and Wound care unit estimate her recovery could take up to a year.
She does not have medical insurance and is hoping that funds from a GoFund Me account, as well as any potential litigation, can help pay for the cost of the ambulance, two-night hospital stay and subsequent weekly outpatient appointments.
“If I would have been at fault putting something hot in the NutriBullet, I would just be like, ok, it was my fault. Oh well, gotta go through it,” said Miranda. “In this case it was, it was faulty.”
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