NEW YORK — Thomas Hatcher uses a wire brush to clean his grill, but in 2015 he told CBS News how a piece of the brush got stuck in his hamburger and then in his mouth.
“I was about halfway through it and I felt something really sharp an intense pain.”
The hot piece of wire lodged into his tongue, requiring a trip to the hospital and stitches.
“It was just a pain that I have never felt before.”
Cheryl Harrison was also eating a burger when she swallowed a piece of wire brush that doctors had to remove from her intestines.
“I felt my stomach was bloated, extremely tender to the touch.”
Research shows about 130 people go to the emergency room every year with these type of injuries.
“There’s a piece of wire that you’re not going to be able to digest and that can cause an internal burn injury that can actually burn through parts of your stomach or your intestines.”
Mount Sinai’s Doctor Erick Eiting said it can easily be avoided.
“It’s best just to take a damp cloth, wipe off the entire area before you turn the grill on, just make sure it’s clean and make sure nothing else is on there because that’s how it gets on to the food. It’s like a hidden particle that latches on to the food.”
A simple way to make sure your cookout is a safe one.