GE JEM31L Important Safety Instructions, Do not use the oven for storage purposes. Do not leave

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS (continued)

—Do not pop popcorn in your microwave oven unless in a special microwave popcorn accessory or unless you use popcorn labeled for use in microwave ovens.

—Do not operate the oven while empty to avoid damage to the oven and the danger of fire.

If by accident the oven should run empty a minute or two, no harm is done. However, try to avoid operating the oven empty at all times—it saves energy and prolongs the life of the oven.

—Do not overcook potatoes.

They could dehydrate and catch fire, causing damage to your oven.

●Do not use the oven for storage purposes. Do not leave

paper products, cooking utensils or food in the oven when not in use.

●If materials inside oven should ignite, keep oven door

closed, turn oven off, and disconnect power cord, or shut off power at the fuse or circuit breaker panel.

●Some products such as whole eggs and sealed containers—for example, closed jars—will explode and should not be heated

in this microwave oven. Such use of the microwave oven could result in injury.

Q Avoid heating baby food in glass jars, even without their lids; especially meat and egg mixtures.

●Don’t defrost frozen beverages in narrow necked bottles (especially carbonated beverages). Even if the container is opened, pressure can build up. This can cause the container to burst, possibly resulting in injury.

●Use metal only as directed in this book and the cookbook provided with your microwave oven. TV dinners may be microwaved in foil trays less than 3/4” high; remove top foil cover and return tray to box. When

using metal in the microwave oven, keep metal (other than metal shelfi at least 1 inch away from sides of oven.

●Cookware may become hot

because of heat transferred from the heated food. Pot holders may be needed to handle the cookware.

●Sometimes, the glass cooking tray can become too hot to touch. Be careful when touching

the tray during and after cooking.

●Foods cooked in liquids

(such as pasta) may tend to boil over more rapidly than foods containing less moisture. Should this occur, refer to page 33 for instructions on how to clean the inside of the oven.

●Thermometer—Do not use a

thermometer in food you are microwaving unless the thermometer is designed or recommended for use in the microwave oven.

●Remove the temperature probe from the oven when not using it to cook with. If you

leave the probe inside the oven without inserting it in food or liquid, and turn on microwave energy, it can create electrical arcing in the oven and damage oven walls.

c Plastic cookware—Plastic cookware designed for microwave cooking is very useful, but should be used carefully. Even microwave-safe plastic may not be as tolerant of overcooking conditions as are glass or ceramic materials and

may soften or char if subjected to short periods of overcooking, In longer exposures to overcooking, the food and cookware could ignite. For these reasons: 1) Use microwave-safe plastics only and use them in strict compliance with the cookware manufacturer’s recommendations. 2) Do not subject empty cookware to microwaving. 3) Do not permit children to use plastic cookware without complete supervision.

●When cooking pork, follow

the directions exactly and always cook the meat to an internal temperature of at least 170°F. This assures that, in the remote possibility that trichina may be present in the meat, it will be killed and meat will be safe to eat.

●Do not boil eggs in a microwave oven. Pressure will

build up inside egg yolk and will cause it to burst, possibly resulting in injury.

●Foods with unbroken outer “skin” such as potatoes,

sausages, tomatoes, apples, chicken livers and other giblets, and egg yolks (see previous caution) should be pierced to allow steam to escape during cooking.

“Not all plastic wrap is suitable for use in microwave ovens.

Check the package for proper use.

●Spontaneous boiling—Under certain special circumstances, liquids may start to boil during or shortly after removal from the microwave oven. To prevent burns from splashing liquid, stir the liquid briefly before

removing the container from the microwave oven.

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