Appliance Briefs

Tokyo — Sharp has developed a super-heated steam oven that liquefies fat, reduces salt and retains vitamins in cooked food. The product produces a 520-degree spray of steam that cooks meals eight times hotter than conventional convection ovens, causing fat to literally melt away while salt is expelled through condensation. Vitamin loss is limited due to the low-oxygen environment. Sharp says the oven can remove nearly 19 percent of the fat in a 7-ounce steak, for example, representing a 13-percent reduction in calories over pan frying. The oven was introduced in Japan last month after three years of development, with a price tag of about $1,100. Sharp plans to market it worldwide by 2008.

San Antonio — Appliance Recycling Centers of America (ARCA) is opening a 36,000-square-foot ApplianceSmart factory outlet superstore here this month. The unit will be the Minneapolis-based chain's first retail location in the state and the company's tenth nationwide. ApplianceSmart, a member of the MARTA Cooperative buying group, sells discounted special-buy white goods, including closeouts, factory overruns, discontinued models and out-of-box items. CEO Jack Cameron said more Texas stores will follow.

Washington — The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) has been awarded a research grant by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue assessing the amount of foam insulation blowing agent emissions that are released from decommissioned refrigerators and freezers. Combined with earlier research on the emissions of fluorocarbon blowing agents from refrigerator-freezer foam insulation into the atmosphere, the study will provide valuable data in evaluating the impact of these chemicals on the ozone layer and their contribution to global warming. Initial results indicate that greenhouse gasses attributable to refrigerators are less prevalent than longstanding estimates, AHAM said.