Experts discover misleading information about air fryers that has fooled millions of customers
Air fryers are undoubtedly the must-have kitchen gadgets of the moment, with celebrities from Sir Mo Farah to Drew Barrymore professing their love for them.
The device uses hot air instead of hot oil to prepare food and offers a fast and healthy alternative to deep fryers.
However, a new discovery may have you reaching for another device.
Experts of what? have discovered misleading information about air fryers that has fooled millions of customers.
The information refers to the capacity of the device.
While most brands advertise the capacity in liters, Which? warns that this is misleading.
“Most models advertise their capacity in litres, which can sometimes be misleading as not all internal space is usable,” explains the consumer champion.
‘The laboratory test of What? measures the capacity of food in grams and has found that the actual capacity is usually between 60% and 80% of what is claimed by brands.’
It is already known that air fryers are cheaper and more effective than traditional ovens. And now a study has revealed a surprising health benefit to using the trendy stoves in your kitchen
As a guide to their dimensions, most manufacturers list the total internal volume of their air fryers in liters.
However, this does not always correspond to how much food can realistically fit in an air fryer, as not all of the internal space is usable.
‘The smallest air fryers we tested can hold up to 400 grams of food’, which one? explained.
For reference, that’s about two servings of fries and roughly equal to the amount of food that fits on two baking trays in an oven.
“If you want to cook for more than four people – or you just have a particularly hungry household – air fryers like the Tefal Actifry 2 in 1 can hold almost twice as much (1.7kg),” it added.
‘Dual air fryers are also an option if you cook for more people. It can hold between 0.6 kg and 2.3 kg of food.
‘It is also possible that an air fryer with large external dimensions has less space inside for cooking than a smaller one.’
The insight into air fryers comes as part of Which?’s 2024 product testing overview.
Harry Rose, editor of what? magazine, said: ‘Each year Which?’s rigorous and independent tests reveal? secrets and debunking myths to help people make the right buying decisions and get value for their money.
“By keeping our testing insights in mind, consumers can avoid questionable marketing claims and spend their hard-earned money on items that will serve them well in the long run.”
The news comes shortly after a study found that using air fryers in your kitchen provides a surprising health benefit.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham say air fryers produce a small portion of the indoor air pollution emitted by other cooking methods.
In their research, the team cooked a chicken breast using five popular methods, including boiling, air frying and pan frying.
Their analysis found that air frying produced the fewest particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) of all five methods.
Previous research has shown that indoor air pollutants can increase the risk of several health problems.
“On average, people spend more than 80% of their time indoors, with cooking emissions contributing significantly to indoor air pollution,” the researchers wrote in their study.
‘Exposure to indoor pollutants can cause various health effects, such as acute symptoms and chronic diseases, such as heart failure; cardiovascular disease; cerebrovascular diseases; neurodegenerative diseases; lung diseases including emphysema and bronchitis; irritations in the respiratory tract and eyes; respiratory infections and asthma attacks; and increased risks of cancer and mortality, especially in vulnerable people.”