More Than 21 Million Grill Brushes Recalled in 2026: Why We Started Rethinking the Grill Brush Years Ago
by Zaven Gunjian - BRUSHTECHnology Engineer
October 3, 2026
It is not every day that brushes make the news.
So when reports first began surfacing in the summer of 2013 about the danger of loose wire bristles from conventional grill brushes, we paid very close attention.
At Brushtech, brushes are not an afterthought. They are our business, our craft, and for fifty years, they have been the problem we wake up thinking about.
When that first warning about loose grill-brush bristles appeared, we got to work.
We started brainstorming.
Then imagining.
Then designing.
Then engineering.
Then prototyping.
Then trying.
Then failing.
Then trying again.
Then reworking.
Then retrying.
Then figuring out how to manufacture what we had designed reliably and at scale.
Then came tooling, production methods, patent work, sourcing American-made components, refining the assembly process, testing again, and finally bringing the product to market.
By 2014, we launched our first safety grill brush.
That is how BRUSHTECHnology works.
The Problem Was Bigger Than One Brush
As the inventor and BRUSHTECHnology Engineer behind our safety grill brush designs, I was proud of the work.
Proud enough, in fact, that I started bringing the brush with me whenever I had the chance to attend a barbecue.
It became my unofficial party gift.
I would show up with a Brushtech brush, explain the danger of loose wire bristles, give my pitch about the invention, hand it over to the person running the grill, and ask for feedback.
Most people loved it.
They understood the idea immediately. They liked the construction. They wished me luck.
But sometimes I got a more useful answer.
Sometimes the brush did not work as well on their particular grill.
Sometimes the geometry was wrong for the grate.
Sometimes it could not reach where it needed to reach.
Sometimes I heard exactly what no inventor enjoys hearing:
"It needs improvement."
At first, that was frustrating.
Then I realized something important.
Every honest criticism was actually an opportunity.
Not All Grills Are Made the Same
That was the breakthrough.
The problem was not simply creating one safer grill brush.
The problem was creating the right safer grill brush for the right type of grill.
A flat griddle is completely different from a traditional round rod grate.
A V-shaped or triangular grate behaves differently again.
Different cooking surfaces create different cleaning problems.
Different cleaning problems require different brush geometries.
That meant more work.
More engineering.
More prototypes.
More manufacturing challenges.
More patents.
And, ultimately, more brushes.
What initially looked like criticism became a roadmap.
That feedback helped shape what has become a growing family of Brushtech safety grill-cleaning tools designed around the actual surface being cleaned.
Flat Grills and Griddles: B516C
For flat cooking surfaces and griddles, we recommend the B516C.
A flat-top grill presents a broad surface-cleaning problem. Instead of needing to reach around and between individual rods, the goal is greater contact across the cooking surface.
The B516C was developed around that need.
Its flattened spring configuration is intended to provide more contact against flat cooking surfaces and griddles, helping attack cooked-on food, grease, and residue.
For griddle owners, restaurant operators, and backyard cooks using flat-top equipment, this is the type of specialized tool that came directly out of learning that one brush cannot do every job well.
Wire and Rod-Style Grills: B410C
For traditional wire grills and rod-style grates, we recommend the B410C Quad Spring Safety Grill Brush.
This is a very different cleaning environment.
Here, the brush needs to work across and around individual grill rods while providing reach, leverage, and sufficient contact with the grate.
The B410C uses Brushtech's spring-based cleaning concept rather than relying on rows of short, conventional wire bristles.
It was engineered specifically around the geometry of the more traditional backyard grill.
V-Shaped and Triangular Grates: B541C
Then there are V-shaped and triangular grates.
These presented yet another problem.
A cleaning tool that performs well on a flat griddle or conventional round grill rods may not properly reach into the valleys and angled faces of a V-shaped grate.
That challenge led to additional development and products such as the B541C, which incorporates our tactical downward-assist design.
The additional handle allows the user to apply pressure directly into the cleaning surface and better work with these more substantial grate profiles.
Again, the lesson was the same:
The grill determines the brush.
Not the other way around.
Even the Safety Brush Needs Cleaning: B414C
There was another practical issue we noticed along the way.
The grill brush itself gets dirty.
Grease, carbon, and cooking residue accumulate on cleaning tools just as they do on the grill.
So we developed the B414C BBQ Brush Cleaning Brush.
It is the brush for cleaning the brush.
The idea is simple: if you are going to invest in a quality grill-cleaning tool, it makes sense to maintain that tool and keep it working properly.
Why the Recent Recalls Matter
In 2026, major recalls involving conventional wire-bristle grill brushes have brought this subject back into the national conversation in a very significant way.
More than 21 million grill brushes have been affected by major recalls announced this year.
The concern is the same one that originally caught our attention back in the summer of 2013: individual metal bristles can separate from a conventional grill brush, remain on the cooking surface, transfer to food, and potentially be swallowed.
That is why this issue deserves attention.
And from our perspective, it reinforces something we have believed for years:
A grill brush should be treated as an engineered cleaning tool, not an afterthought hanging from the side of the barbecue.
Its construction matters.
Its materials matter.
Its manufacturing method matters.
And its compatibility with the grill matters.
Fifty Years Behind Us. Fifty More Ahead.
Brushtech was founded in 1976.
This year, we celebrate fifty years of Brushmaking in America.
That means fifty years of learning how wire behaves.
Fifty years of understanding springs, brushes, handles, materials, machinery, manufacturing processes, cleaning surfaces, and the small details that determine whether a brush actually works.
That history gave us the foundation to tackle the grill-brush problem when the hazard first entered the news in 2013, and to bring our first safety grill brush to market in 2014.
But the work is not finished.
It probably never will be.
That is the point.
Every new grill design creates another challenge.
Every complaint can reveal another weakness.
Every weakness can become another engineering problem.
And every engineering problem can become another opportunity to invent something better.
That is the part of brushmaking I love most.
You imagine.
You build.
You test.
You fail.
You improve.
You test again.
And eventually, if you keep at it long enough, you make something useful.
Fifty years of BRUSHTECHnology behind us.
And fifty more in front of us.
Find the Right Brush for the Right Grill
For flat grills and griddles, consider the B516C.
For traditional wire and rod-style grill grates, consider the B410C.
For V-shaped and triangular grates, consider the B541C.
And to help keep your Brushtech safety grill brushes clean, use the B414C BBQ Brush Cleaning Brush.
The lesson we learned through years of designing, testing, selling, listening, failing, improving, and trying again is simple:
There is no single perfect grill brush for every grill.
There is only the right brush for the right grill.
BRUSHTECH, Inc.
Made in USA. Since 1976.
Brushtech offers Safe Grill Brush Alternatives since 2014
More Than 21 Million Grill Brushes Recalled in 2026: Why We Started Rethinking the Grill Brush Years Ago
by Zaven Gunjian - BRUSHTECHnology Engineer
October 3, 2026
It is not every day that brushes make the news.
So when reports first began surfacing in the summer of 2013 about the danger of loose wire bristles from conventional grill brushes, we paid very close attention.
At Brushtech, brushes are not an afterthought. They are our business, our craft, and for fifty years, they have been the problem we wake up thinking about.
When that first warning about loose grill-brush bristles appeared, we got to work.
We started brainstorming.
Then imagining.
Then designing.
Then engineering.
Then prototyping.
Then trying.
Then failing.
Then trying again.
Then reworking.
Then retrying.
Then figuring out how to manufacture what we had designed reliably and at scale.
Then came tooling, production methods, patent work, sourcing American-made components, refining the assembly process, testing again, and finally bringing the product to market.
By 2014, we launched our first safety grill brush.
That is how BRUSHTECHnology works.
The Problem Was Bigger Than One Brush
As the inventor and BRUSHTECHnology Engineer behind our safety grill brush designs, I was proud of the work.
Proud enough, in fact, that I started bringing the brush with me whenever I had the chance to attend a barbecue.
It became my unofficial party gift.
I would show up with a Brushtech brush, explain the danger of loose wire bristles, give my pitch about the invention, hand it over to the person running the grill, and ask for feedback.
Most people loved it.
They understood the idea immediately. They liked the construction. They wished me luck.
But sometimes I got a more useful answer.
Sometimes the brush did not work as well on their particular grill.
Sometimes the geometry was wrong for the grate.
Sometimes it could not reach where it needed to reach.
Sometimes I heard exactly what no inventor enjoys hearing:
"It needs improvement."
At first, that was frustrating.
Then I realized something important.
Every honest criticism was actually an opportunity.
Not All Grills Are Made the Same
That was the breakthrough.
The problem was not simply creating one safer grill brush.
The problem was creating the right safer grill brush for the right type of grill.
A flat griddle is completely different from a traditional round rod grate.
A V-shaped or triangular grate behaves differently again.
Different cooking surfaces create different cleaning problems.
Different cleaning problems require different brush geometries.
That meant more work.
More engineering.
More prototypes.
More manufacturing challenges.
More patents.
And, ultimately, more brushes.
What initially looked like criticism became a roadmap.
That feedback helped shape what has become a growing family of Brushtech safety grill-cleaning tools designed around the actual surface being cleaned.
Flat Grills and Griddles: B516C
For flat cooking surfaces and griddles, we recommend the B516C.
A flat-top grill presents a broad surface-cleaning problem. Instead of needing to reach around and between individual rods, the goal is greater contact across the cooking surface.
The B516C was developed around that need.
Its flattened spring configuration is intended to provide more contact against flat cooking surfaces and griddles, helping attack cooked-on food, grease, and residue.
For griddle owners, restaurant operators, and backyard cooks using flat-top equipment, this is the type of specialized tool that came directly out of learning that one brush cannot do every job well.
Wire and Rod-Style Grills: B410C
For traditional wire grills and rod-style grates, we recommend the B410C Quad Spring Safety Grill Brush.
This is a very different cleaning environment.
Here, the brush needs to work across and around individual grill rods while providing reach, leverage, and sufficient contact with the grate.
The B410C uses Brushtech's spring-based cleaning concept rather than relying on rows of short, conventional wire bristles.
It was engineered specifically around the geometry of the more traditional backyard grill.
V-Shaped and Triangular Grates: B541C
Then there are V-shaped and triangular grates.
These presented yet another problem.
A cleaning tool that performs well on a flat griddle or conventional round grill rods may not properly reach into the valleys and angled faces of a V-shaped grate.
That challenge led to additional development and products such as the B541C, which incorporates our tactical downward-assist design.
The additional handle allows the user to apply pressure directly into the cleaning surface and better work with these more substantial grate profiles.
Again, the lesson was the same:
The grill determines the brush.
Not the other way around.
Even the Safety Brush Needs Cleaning: B414C
There was another practical issue we noticed along the way.
The grill brush itself gets dirty.
Grease, carbon, and cooking residue accumulate on cleaning tools just as they do on the grill.
So we developed the B414C BBQ Brush Cleaning Brush.
It is the brush for cleaning the brush.
The idea is simple: if you are going to invest in a quality grill-cleaning tool, it makes sense to maintain that tool and keep it working properly.
Why the Recent Recalls Matter
In 2026, major recalls involving conventional wire-bristle grill brushes have brought this subject back into the national conversation in a very significant way.
More than 21 million grill brushes have been affected by major recalls announced this year.
The concern is the same one that originally caught our attention back in the summer of 2013: individual metal bristles can separate from a conventional grill brush, remain on the cooking surface, transfer to food, and potentially be swallowed.
That is why this issue deserves attention.
And from our perspective, it reinforces something we have believed for years:
A grill brush should be treated as an engineered cleaning tool, not an afterthought hanging from the side of the barbecue.
Its construction matters.
Its materials matter.
Its manufacturing method matters.
And its compatibility with the grill matters.
Fifty Years Behind Us. Fifty More Ahead.
Brushtech was founded in 1976.
This year, we celebrate fifty years of Brushmaking in America.
That means fifty years of learning how wire behaves.
Fifty years of understanding springs, brushes, handles, materials, machinery, manufacturing processes, cleaning surfaces, and the small details that determine whether a brush actually works.
That history gave us the foundation to tackle the grill-brush problem when the hazard first entered the news in 2013, and to bring our first safety grill brush to market in 2014.
But the work is not finished.
It probably never will be.
That is the point.
Every new grill design creates another challenge.
Every complaint can reveal another weakness.
Every weakness can become another engineering problem.
And every engineering problem can become another opportunity to invent something better.
That is the part of brushmaking I love most.
You imagine.
You build.
You test.
You fail.
You improve.
You test again.
And eventually, if you keep at it long enough, you make something useful.
Fifty years of BRUSHTECHnology behind us.
And fifty more in front of us.
Find the Right Brush for the Right Grill
For flat grills and griddles, consider the B516C.
For traditional wire and rod-style grill grates, consider the B410C.
For V-shaped and triangular grates, consider the B541C.
And to help keep your Brushtech safety grill brushes clean, use the B414C BBQ Brush Cleaning Brush.
The lesson we learned through years of designing, testing, selling, listening, failing, improving, and trying again is simple:
There is no single perfect grill brush for every grill.
There is only the right brush for the right grill.
BRUSHTECH, Inc.
Made in USA. Since 1976.