Crock-Pot is reassuring consumers its products are safe following a recent episode of NBC's ''This Is Us.'' During the episode, a slow cooker starts a fire that ultimately leads to a main character's death, Vanity Fair reports.
In an episode aired on Jan. 23, the switch of an old, faulty slow cooker sparks and ignites a dish towel lying next to it. A fire quickly breaks out, spreading from the kitchen throughout the house of the show's starring family. The family's father, Jack, played by Milo Ventimiglia, later dies from complications related to the fire.
After learning what caused Jack's death, ''This Is Us'' fans began raising concerns about the safety of Crock-Pot's slow cookers on Twitter. The creator of ''This is Us,'' Dan Fogelman, tweeted the fire was started by a ''20 year old fictional crockpot with an already funky switch? Let's not just lump all those lovely hardworking crockpots together.''
Crock-Pot later released an official statement on the safety of its products, obtained by Vanity Fair:
''Crock-Pot understands the concerns brought up by last night's episode of This Is Us, and we, too, are heartbroken by the latest development in Jack's story line. However, it is important that our consumers understand and have confidence that all Crock-Pot slow cookers exceed all internal testing protocols and all applicable industry safety standards and regulations as verified by independent third-party testing labs. For nearly 50 years, with over 100 million Crock-Pots sold, we have never received any consumer complaints similar to the fictional events portrayed in last night's episode. In fact, the safety and design of our product renders this type of event nearly impossible.''
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