Self Heating of Poppadoms

[Noddy]

No, I am being serious!

A colleague in our office was called out the other day as crews were scratching their heads a little.  A small fire in a cupboard in a take away restaurant involving a plastic box and remnants of poppadoms.  There were no electrics present, all accidental ignition sources had been discounted and arson was eliminated quite easily.

Although I am aware of self-heating in various food stuffs such as crisps and batter, I had not, until now, come across the self-heating of poppadoms!   

[OscarTango]

Interesting. I was watching a program last night that mentioned how good tortilla chips are as firelighters. I suppose poppadoms aren't all that different. And if warm tea towels can self heat and catch alight when packed together then why not starchy carbs (hmmm......starchy carbs......)

Room for any mango chutney on your BRVs?

[Messyshaw]

Were the poppadoms deep fried in ghee?

I used to work in a predominantly Asian area and a local commercial laundry had all sorts of problems with tea tools from Indian restaurants overheating and igniting. It waters to be come a regular run and was causing a fair bit of damage each time.

If my memory serves me right, ghee has similar properties as linseed oil the it comes to autoignition. The company dealt with the issue by ensuring any contaminated laundy that was to stay unwashed overnight, was hung up or laid flat and not left buried in a heap where other material acted as an insulator.

I wonder if the plastic box (if sealed) in this example was doing the same???? 

[Firestorm]

.......says a man who worked at G24! He'd know!