OSAKA -- Consumers should beware when attempting to reheat miso soup in a stainless steel cooking pot because the contents of the pot may suddenly boil over -- and with a loud explosive noise -- overturn the pot, consumer protection officials warned Wednesday.

According to the officials at the Osaka Prefectural Consumer Information Center, several cases have been brought to light concerning such culinary mishaps, prompting the center to conduct a probe into the situation.

So far, it has been shown that this type of accident was most likely to occur when the miso paste used is a dark type that includes stock, the stainless steel pot is composed of a three-layer metal and the heating unit is a high-temperature gas kitchen range, they said.

They urged consumers to be careful and have taken the further step of issuing advisory warnings to both miso paste and stainless-steel kitchenware manufacturers. The center says it believes the reason behind the unusual bubbling is the fact that stainless steel fails to conduct heat evenly. The heated part of the liquid pushes past the large protein molecules of the dark miso paste, resulting in a sudden boil over.