A grill brush recall doubled to 3.6 million after three people swallowed the bristles

Conair has expanded its recall of Cuisinart-branded metal wire bristle grill brushes to more than 3.6 million units, roughly double the number it recalled a month earlier. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announcement, dated August 27, 2026, ties the expansion to dozens of reports of bristles breaking off the brush head and turning up on grill grates or embedded in food, including three cases in which someone swallowed a bristle and needed it removed by a doctor. Wire-bristle grill brushes have driven a string of recalls across brands in recent years, but the scale of this one, and how long the same defect kept surfacing in Cuisinart’s lineup, is what pushed the total past 3.6 million.

July’s Recall Becomes August’s Doubling

Conair first recalled 1,719,995 Cuisinart grill brushes in July 2026 over the same detachment hazard. The August 27 notice adds roughly 1,905,805 more brushes to that count, bringing the combined total to 3,625,800, close enough to double the original figure that regulators and retailers are treating it as a single, larger recall rather than two separate actions a month apart. CPSC’s practice of publishing an expansion under a new notice, rather than quietly revising the July figure, is why the recall now reads as two connected announcements instead of one.

Fifty-Four Reports, Three Trips to Have Bristles Removed

Conair says it is aware of at least 54 reports and customer reviews describing wire bristles that detached from a brush during cleaning. Three of those involved a person swallowing a bristle that had transferred onto food off the grill grate, and each required medical treatment to remove the metal fragment from the throat or digestive tract. CPSC classifies the injury risk as serious enough to potentially require surgery, since a swallowed wire bristle can perforate tissue on its way through the digestive system rather than passing through harmlessly the way most swallowed debris does.

The other 51 reports did not involve ingestion, and instead describe bristles found stuck to grill grates or embedded in cooked food before anyone bit down, evidence that the hazard shows up well before a swallowing incident, for anyone paying attention to what comes off the grate. CPSC and Conair have not said how many of the 54 reports came in after the July recall was already public, which would suggest owners kept using a brush they had not yet heard was recalled, versus how many surfaced only once the wider August notice prompted people to check their own kitchen drawers.

Twenty-One Model Numbers Behind the Same Wire-Loop Design

Eight models were named in the original July recall: CCB-100, CCB-4125, CCB-5014, CCB-6450, CCB-8012, CCB-4114, CCB-W2 and CSBS-777. The expansion adds thirteen more: CGWM-024, CGWM-059, FCB-501, CGS-W18, CCB-134, CGWM-061, CB-395, CCB-3001, CGWM-077, CGWM-058, CCB-012/021, CGWM-060 and FBH-51. The word “Cuisinart” is stamped on the handle of most of these brushes, with FCB-501 and CB-395 the exceptions, which makes the model number and packaging the more reliable way to confirm a match than checking the handle alone.

Every Cuisinart Wire Brush Sold Before 2020 Is Also Covered

Beyond the named models, CPSC’s notice states that additional Cuisinart wire bristle brushes sold individually and in sets prior to 2020 are included, effectively pulling in the brand’s entire wire-bristle catalog regardless of model number. Some of the recalled brushes also shipped bundled inside larger sets, including the Premium Grill 10 Piece Set, the 13 Piece Wooden Handle Grill Tool Set, the 14 Piece Deluxe Stainless Steel Grill Set and the 20 Piece Deluxe Grill Set, meaning a household that never bought a standalone grill brush could still own one without realizing it. Distribution dates for individual models stretch back as far as 2009, and the brushes were sold at Walmart, Burlington, TJ Maxx and Ross, along with Amazon and Cuisinart.com, for between $8 and $20 — a low enough price that many owners are unlikely to have kept a receipt, and long enough ago in some cases that a brush could have changed hands more than once as a hand-me-down grilling accessory before this recall gave anyone a reason to check the handle for a model number.

A Refund, or Store Credit Worth Twenty Percent More

Owners are being told to stop using the recalled brushes and discard them rather than return them, since the company has no use for the defective hardware once it has been reported. Conair is offering either a full cash refund or a Cuisinart.com credit equal to the refund amount plus an extra 20 percent, a structure meant to make the store-credit option the more attractive of the two for anyone planning to replace the brush with another Cuisinart grilling accessory. Conair can be reached toll-free at 888-520-1304 from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays, or through the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall notice, which links to the company’s claims portal.

The Latest in a Long Run of Wire-Bristle Recalls

Cuisinart is not the first grill brush brand CPSC has pursued over this design. The agency’s own recall records show Nexgrill recalling more than 10.2 million wire bristle brushes and Weber recalling more than 3.2 million, both over bristles that detach and stick to food in essentially the same way described in the original July recall. The repeated pattern across manufacturers points to the wire-loop bristle head itself, which relies on bent metal strands anchored around a central spine, as the recurring weak point: repeated scraping against hot grates fatigues the metal until individual strands snap free, regardless of which company assembled the handle around them.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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