Walmart pulled 4.4 million grill brushes that shed wire bristles into food

Walmart’s Expert Grill line sold about 4,477,655 steel-fiber scrub brushes, grill brushes and tool sets between January 2021 and August 2026, at prices from $1 to $28. The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall on October 1, 2026, filed as recall number 27-010. Every one of the five affected models can shed small pieces of wire that end up on the cooking surface.

The agency’s notice describes the danger in a single sentence: small metal wire bristles can detach from the brushes and stick to the grill or food, posing an ingestion hazard and a risk of serious internal injuries that could require surgery. No injuries have been reported for these models. The notice also leaves unstated whether the 4.4 million count covers only American sales, so the figure is best read as the total Walmart and the commission attached to the recall.

Five Expert Grill Models Under Recall

The CPSC recall notice lists five model numbers. EX5607031616002 is a 16-inch steel fiber scrub brush with a scraper, and EX5607031616003 is a handheld steel fiber scrub brush with an ergonomic handle. XG1310700206 is a 21-inch three-head grill brush with stainless steel bristles, XG1136178597003 is a 17.7-inch long-handle brush with a scraper, and XG1410700124 is a ten-piece stainless steel grill tool set.

Walmart stores and Walmart.com carried all of them, with the exact sale window varying from model to model. The spread in price, from a $1 scrub tool to a $28 set, means the recall reaches both impulse purchases and the kind of brush that stays in a grill cabinet for years.

Bristle Injuries From Rhode Island Emergency Rooms

The medical literature on this kind of injury is older than the recalls. In a report in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, four radiologists at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School, including David Grand and Thomas Egglin, described six patients treated at a Providence hospital system between March 2011 and June 2012. The patients were aged 31 to 64, and each had been grilling at home. Their injuries ranged from a puncture in the soft tissue of the neck that made swallowing painful to a perforated gastrointestinal tract that needed emergency surgery. All six recovered.

The authors wrote that such injuries “might be more common than previously suspected” and told grillers to examine the grill surface for bristles before cooking. A strand of wire that has dropped into a bun or a steak is hard to see, which is why the CPSC’s wording about surgery reflects documented cases and is not a theoretical worry.

Refund or Store Credit Through Walmart

Owners of the five models are told to stop using them and either return or discard them. Walmart is offering a full refund or store credit, and the company can be reached at 800-925-6278 or walmart.com/help. Anyone who finds a bristle in food can file a report at SaferProducts.gov, the CPSC’s public reporting database. In its statements on this year’s wire-brush recalls, the commission urged consumers to inspect the grill surface and the food before eating, and to stop using wire-bristle brushes in favor of non-wire alternatives. Refund terms cover the five listed models only, so a brush from another brand needs its own check against the CPSC recall list.

Weber, Nexgrill and Cuisinart Went First

Walmart’s recall follows three earlier ones this year. Weber recalled about 3.2 million metal wire bristle brushes on February 26, 2026, after documenting at least 38 reports of detached bristles, four of them involving consumers who swallowed metal and needed medical help to remove it from the digestive tract or throat.

Nexgrill’s recall on March 26 covered about 10.2 million brushes sold at Home Depot, with 68 reports and five ingestion cases. Conair pulled 1,719,995 Cuisinart brushes on July 2, with 54 reports and three people who sought treatment after swallowing bristles. Together the three recalls account for twelve ingestion cases that required medical removal.

At the Weber announcement, Acting Chairman Peter Feldman called the problem “a dangerous design flaw that allows small wire bristles to detach from the brush and be swallowed without detection,” and told manufacturers of similar products that they could “work proactively with CPSC to address known hazards or face continued enforcement scrutiny.” When the Nexgrill recall followed a month later, the commission’s enforcement statement went further: Feldman said that when firms delay or fail to take appropriate corrective action, CPSC “will use the full weight of its enforcement authorities,” and the agency said it would treat a lack of cooperation as an aggravating factor in any civil penalty.

Walmart’s 4,477,655 brushes enter that record with no injuries on file, set against twelve ingestion cases attached to the three recalls before it.

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

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