Urgent warning to anyone who cooks bacon in their air fryer

Bacon, despite being one of the world's favourite meats, is much less appetising in multiple ways if people choose to cook their rashers in an air fryer, an expert has explained

Air fryer enthusiasts looking to make their fried breakfasts a little healthier have been dealt a crushing blow after a food expert warned putting the food in the device could have explosive consequences.

The fryers, which some people now use more often than their ovens, have become a staple in recent years for making food a little healthier. They cook without oil while managing to preserve the taste of home cooking, and have taken the world by storm in a similar way to the microwave.

Many people may feel bacon - a delicious but massively unhealthy breakfast favourite - would be the ideal candidate for an air fryer, much like chips. But a dietician has warned that the fat content of a single rasher could land people in messy trouble if they try to cook it in the fryer.

Speaking to the Huffington Post, dietician Brenda Peralta said the massive fatty content of the meat means it could cause havoc in the kitchen. She said: "It is a fatty food, and when it is cooked in an air fryer, the fat can drip down and cause smoke or splatter. As if the smoke and smell caused by air frying bacon isn't bad enough, the process also comes with some major health risks.

Ms Peralta explained that air fryers don't necessarily cook the bacon evenly, meaning people run the risk of getting food poisoning and, possibily, parasitic diseases associated with the meat. She said: "This can make the bacon difficult to cook evenly, and it can also produce a lot of smoke and odours."

Bacon that isn't cooked well enough can leave people unwell for days or, in rarer cases, lead to infections like Trichinosis - a parasitic roundworm infestation that causes a range of unpleasant symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, and eye swelling - and even transfer tapeworms.

Ms Peralta added that, because tey aren't oiled like pans, bacon will also stick to the bottom of the fryer tray, forcing people to scrape off broken rashers. She said: "A bacon strip is a small and delicate food, and it can be difficult to flip or remove from the air fryer basket without breaking it."