The air fryer that has “disappeared” for a long time in the Kitchen appliance expo has received attention again due to negative news.

In December 2019, a survey from South Korea revealed that 4 of the 10 air fryers on the market had produced acrylamide in the fries carcinogen that exceeded the standard. many. Once the results of the investigation were announced, the air fryer with “healthy cooking” as its selling point instantly fell into an awkward position. The "health" label is removed, so for consumers, is there still a need to buy an air fryer?

Oil-free "frying" is not true

The name "air fryer" sounds very technological, and literally, it seems that air is used instead of cooking oil to complete the process of frying food. But in fact, the food made by the air fryer is not the traditional "fried" food. It works more like an oven. It uses hot air to continuously circulate the heat flow in a closed pot, so that the hot air is taken away. The moisture on the surface of the food makes the food crispy.

In 2010, Philips launched the first air fryer, followed by brands such as Supor. Because the “oil-free health” selling point of the air fryer is in line with the popular health and health concepts, it has been welcomed by consumers once launched and was once regarded as the “net red” among small kitchen appliances. product.

But "health" is a delicate proposition for air fryers. Its "oil-free" cooking is not truly oil-free. Meats such as chicken wings and pork belly, which are rich in their own fat content, do not need to be put in oil when they are prepared; and ingredients such as vegetables and chicken breasts with less fat are being prepared. It is still necessary to add a small amount of cooking oil to achieve the "fried" effect. At the same time, the high temperature processing of the air fryer will cause the loss of food nutrients. The starch and oil in food may generate carcinogens such as acrylamide, heterocyclic amines, and benzopyrene at a high temperature of 120 degrees, which will affect human health. Industry experts told reporters that the air fryer cannot fundamentally change the health problems caused by fried foods. If it is simply from the perspective of pursuing dietary health, it is still recommended that consumers eat less fried foods, "steam", "boil" Other cooking methods can better retain the nutrition of food.

In addition, air fryers have many disadvantages. The most intuitive thing is that the texture of the food it produces may not be able to achieve the effect of real frying. Secondly, there is a substitution relationship between air fryer and electric oven and steam oven. In contrast, the former has a small capacity, produces a certain amount of noise during work, and has a small variety of foods that can be cooked. Large brands such as Philips' air fryer, The selling price is generally more than 1,000 yuan. Compared with oven products, it does not have an obvious price advantage.

"The air fryer can enter the market and survive for many years, which shows that this type of product still has certain advantages and audiences. The starting point for the air fryer to enter the market is 'healthy', but from the actual use of consumers, it cooks out The food effect and taste are not as good as in the cognition, and the effects of alternatives such as electric ovens and steam ovens are also real. The air fryer market has been tepid.

Market Chaos Needs Governance

At a time when the category of air fryers was widely optimistic, household appliances giants such as Philips, Joyoung, and Supor had successively introduced air fryers to seize the market. Take China as an example. Today, there are very few latest news about air fryer displayed on the search platform. The enthusiasm of the giant brands seems to have dissipated as the heat of the air fryer has faded, and the market has gradually become the "world" of small and medium brands.

Enter the keyword "Which brand of air fryer is good" in the search engine, and the information displayed is mixed. There are also some brands in their promotional articles that step down other brands to achieve promotional purposes, the overall performance of the industry is mixed.

In general, the indifference of the air fryer market has led to the phenomenon that big brands have a lack of enthusiasm for "food without taste" and small brands with poor quality take advantage of opportunities to drill into the air. The market chaos still needs to be addressed.

Air fryers such as air fryers have been widely favored by various parties, but in the end, there are still many types of home appliances that fail to "fire", such as electric lunch boxes, egg cookers, and yogurt machines. As companies "blindly follow the trend", the planning of these new categories often fails to fully consider whether the product truly meets the needs of consumers and whether it can solve the pain points of users. Most of the final promotion results are also difficult to achieve results.

Home appliance categories are introduced every year, and new sub-categories can bring vitality to the market and promote the healthy development of the industry. However, many of these categories are short-lived. There are many reasons why a category hasn't really caught fire, not just for the product itself, but also because of promotion problems or the emergence of alternatives in the market. Therefore, before the industry launches an emerging category, it must do a lot of market research. In addition, it must also consider whether the alternatives of this category will pose a great threat to it.

Source: CHEAA