Exploding Pyrex - It's not a Hoax!

This weekend, Samir was cooking 3 different types of Bosnian pita. He made one with spinach and cheese, one with just cheese, and one with apples and cinnamon (yummmmm!).

Anyway, as he removed the spinach and cheese dish from the oven, we experienced exploding Pyrex! I was surprised, since I was sure we had been using the dish properly, and I've always had a high opinion of the Pyrex brand.

I Googled, and discovered many stories of exploding Pyrex. I checked it out on Snopes and another anti-hoax site. Interestingly, Snopes comes down on the side of Pyrex, and basically says that all these reports of exploding Pyrex are due to improper usage etc.

Well, we were using our Pyrex in accordance with common sense and Pyrex's own instructions--yep, I checked that out afterward, too.

So, I've filed a report with the Consumer Product Safety Commission and am hanging onto the broken pieces of the dish, as the CPSC suggests.

Here's what I described in the CPSC report:

Samir prepared a recipe of filo dough and spinach at room temperature, in a clean, room-temperature 8x8 Pyrex-brand glass baking dish. He baked the dish for about 45-minutes in a 375-degree oven, on the middle rack. He removed the dish using a dry, cloth oven mitt. He placed the dish on a dry, room-temperature surface, and lay a dry, cloth napkin loosely over the dish. Immediately we heard several loud popping noises, the dish split in half, and 4 or 5 sharp shards , from 1/2" to 2" in length, flew off at the same time. The shards happened to fly towards the backsplash of the counter, rather than out into the kitchen, and some were caught by the overhanging napkin. Nobody was injured.

I'll update this post if I hear anything back from the CPSC.

*********************UPDATE: March 21, 2010********************

So, I was contacted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and an investigator actually came up to our place last week to photograph the Pyrex dish in question. The investigator was very nice and thorough--even took photos of the napkin that had been placed over the dish. That's probably the end of the story, as far as I'm concerned, but it's cool that the CPSC actually followed up on it!