A Minnesota teenager endured a terrifying medical emergency after unknowingly swallowing a tiny metal grill brush bristle that was buried inside a hamburger.
Noah Walden ate two burgers during a Memorial Day barbecue in Stillwater and had no idea that one of them apparently contained the sharp piece of metal.
“I had two burgers, and my guess is one of them had the grill bristle in it, and I swallowed it,” Noah told WCCO.
For nearly a week, the bristle remained inside his body. Then it punctured his intestine, leaving the teenager in unbearable pain.
Noah said the agony became so intense that he could no longer lie down.
“At one point, I got up and couldn’t lay back down,” he recalled. “It was just so much pain.”
He told his parents that he needed to go to the emergency room, where doctors discovered the dangerous object and rushed him into emergency surgery.
The operation was extensive. Doctors had to remove part of Noah’s bowel and make a six-inch incision across his abdomen, according to his mother, Amie Walden.
Now, the family is warning other Americans about the hidden danger posed by wire grill brushes.
“Get rid of your metal grill bristle brushes,” Amie pleaded.
Noah also offered advice to anyone preparing food on a barbecue.
“Do a lot of chewing when you’re grilling, especially if you have a wire grill brush,” he said.
Wire bristles can break loose while a grill is being cleaned and remain stuck to the grates. They can then become lodged in food without the cook or diner noticing.
More than 13 million metal grill brushes were reportedly recalled in 2026 over concerns that customers could accidentally swallow loose bristles and require medical treatment. Of those, approximately 10.2 million were recalled specifically because of ingestion hazards, according to People.
Nexgrill, the company behind the recall of 10.2 million brushes, said there had been a limited number of reported injuries linked to the products.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we made the proactive decision to voluntarily recall these brushes based on our leadership in the BBQ industry and their partnership with the Consumer Product Safety Commission,” the company said in a March statement.
