5 Things to Know Before Buying teflon food safe

If you're thinking of kitchen essentials, a nonstick pan is right up there. It can be excellent for cooking, especially if you hate cleanup, and is versatile enough to handle everything from simply frying an egg to cooking the perfect steak. However, nonstick cookware is often coated in Teflon. Although you can find a wide variety of nonstick cookware sets on the market, Teflon is a popular option. It's been around since the s, and it's seen some questions from consumers surrounding the safety of the chemical-coated pans, especially in recent years.

Check now

Last year, the US saw an increase in reported cases of "Teflon flu." If that's something that has been on your mind, you're not alone. You can find a ton of Reddit users with the same concerns, with many wondering if it's dangerous to inhale Teflon fumes while cooking. The good news? If you have cookware that was made after a certain year and you use it properly, you shouldn't have issues with Teflon flu. But there are a few more things you should know and consider. Here's all you need to know about Teflon flu and how you can use your nonstick kitchenware without health worries.

Read more: Never Raise Your Air Fryer Above This Temperature

What is Teflon flu?

The chemical polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), found in Teflon and similar nonstick surfaces, is common in air fryers, pots and pans and other kitchen appliances. When these materials overheat, they can release synthetic compounds that pose health risks.

Polymer fume fever, or Teflon flu, has reignited a debate about nonstick cookware safety. The illness occurs when fumes from an overheated Teflon or nonstick pan are inhaled. Nonstick pans are made with polytetrafluoroethylene (also known as PTFE). PTFEs are known as "forever chemicals" because they take decades or sometimes even hundreds of years to break down. 

Read more: I Upgraded to This PFAS-Free Glass Fryer and You Should, Too

Symptoms of Teflon flu

Under normal use, PTFEs aren't thought to cause a health risk, but when heated to above 500 degrees Fahrenheit, there are increased emissions and the resulting polymer fume fever.

Polymer fume fever causes a range of reported symptoms including fever, chills, muscle tension and headache. Symptoms of Teflon flu are temporary and generally start within 12 hours of exposure but can take up to 24 hours to take hold.

How to avoid Teflon flu

Teflon and nonstick cookware are easy to use, clean and maintain, but it should be used only for low to medium heat cooking. Never heat your nonstick cookware over high heat or medium heat for long periods of time. Try to keep the surface temperature at or below 450 degrees Fahrenheit, or emissions from the PTFE coating are likely to increase.  

What is Teflon and does it cause cancer?

Nonstick or Teflon is a popular choice for home cooks. The biggest advantage is that food won't stick to pots and pans coated with Teflon the way it does to other metal materials, so it's easy to flip a pancake or remove a cooked egg. Nonstick is also very easy to clean, generally taking no more than a few seconds to wash by hand. 

Teflon is a brand name for a synthetic chemical called polytetrafluoroethylene that's used in many household products, from wire coatings to fabric protectors and kitchen cookware. The knock on Teflon is that it's unsafe if consumed or absorbed into the body and can increase the chances of cancer and other diseases. Studies have shown some connections (more on that below), but Teflon still exists and is used to make cookware, and the safety concerns around Teflon are mostly a thing of the past. 

I stress mostly. Here's why…

The brand Teflon may be associated with a risk of cancer, but it's actually a chemical formerly used in the making of Teflon called PFOA that's to blame. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, perfluorooctanoic acid is a manufactured perfluorochemical developed in the s and used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water. 

What are the negative effects of PFOA?

In some studies, PFOA has been linked to cancer, immune deficiency and a host of other medical problems. It has also been shown to affect growth and development and injure the liver in laboratory animals.

As recently as , chemical giant Dupont settled a lawsuit for more than $670 million for its role in contaminating drinking water with PFOA (also referred to as C-8) in the mid-Ohio Valley. A previous class-action suit from in the same area led to a study that found PFOA was linked to cancer and compromised immune function, even in small doses. 

Teflon cookware made before may be toxic

All that was enough for most manufacturers to halt the production of nonstick coatings using PFOA around . Teflon using PFOA wasn't officially banned in the United States until . Europe banned it in . That means if you own Teflon nonstick cookware from or earlier, there's a chance it contains PFOA. Nine years is typically longer than the average lifespan of a nonstick pan, but if you're not sure, it's probably best to replace any Teflon-coated pots or pans. 

If you're concerned, look for PFOA-free cookware

Because of the ban, all nonstick cookware made in the US should be PFOA-free, but you'd be wise to make sure. Be extra cautious about buying cheap or off-brand cookware, especially if it's not produced in a country with an active PFOA ban. PFOA is still produced elsewhere, largely in China, and used to make consumer products. 

The good news is that PFOA-free nonstick cookware is cheap, so there's no reason to risk it with anything that might contain the chemical. You can nab a 10-inch skillet from a trusted cookware brand like Misen for $99 or Tramontina for about $30. Luxury cookware brand All-Clad makes a two-piece nonstick cookware set for $80.

The best natural nonstick cookware alternatives

If you're ready to ditch Teflon and chemical-based nonstick pots and pans, there are plenty of more natural nonstick alternatives. 

JVC contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.

The most nonstick of the bunch is ceramic cookware, which has seen a boom in popularity since concerns about Teflon first surfaced. A few popular ceramic cookware options include The Always Pan (read my full review here), Caraway and Greenpan.

Cast iron is another cookware material that develops a natural nonstick coating over time, especially if you season it well and care for it properly. It won't likely ever become as nonstick as Teflon, but cast iron has loads of other culinary benefits that are worthy of a few extra seconds of scrubbing in the sink after use. Lodge is a tried-and-true cast-iron cookware producer: You can scoop up a 10-inch skillet for as little as $25.

Carbon steel is yet another option and functions similarly to cast-iron cookware, although it's not quite as heavy, slightly more sensitive to corrosion, and typically more expensive. Carbon steel hasn't really popped off here in the US but is a favorite of professional chefs, as well as yours truly. Cookware startup Made In produces some excellent carbon steel cookware with prices starting around $99, but there are cheaper options out there.

FAQs

The cookware industry has gone to great lengths to convince consumers that nonstick and Teflon pots and pans are safe to use.  Chemours, the company that brought you the iconic nonstick surface, Teflon, states on its website that it’s “committed to making chemistry as responsible as it is essential.” It touts GenX, its follow up to Teflon — after a chemical necessary to its production was banned in the US — as a nonstick coating that poses no risk to human health. And all manner of supposedly “green” nonstick options now flood the market, replete with assurances that they are conscientious choices in the kitchen. 

But with controversial PFAS chemicals in the news of late — as of February, 12 states were considering legislation to ban them in food packaging and foam — home cooks might be wondering where the truth about nonstick surfaces lies. It’s complicated — and in some ways, as you’ll see, infinitely simple. But for starters, says Marty Mulvihill, a green chemist and co-founder of safe-technology investor Safer Made, “It’s probably worthwhile for us to ask the question, are these products really necessary?”

A Brief Introduction to PFAS 

Teflon (it’s actually a brand name; the company did not respond to requests for comment.) is a polymer that was a marvel of s chemical science; it’s so unreactive, food molecules can’t bond with it and slide right off. Its chemical name is polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE. PTFE is one of about 4,700 compounds, according to Mulvihill, that comprise a class of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS.

Terms to Know

PFAS

Perfluorinated chemicals, sometimes called "forever chemicals," are a class of synthetic chemicals used primarily on fiber-based food packaging to make them water and oil-resistant. They have been linked to a range of negative health outcomes.

PFAS don’t just show up in nonstick cookware; they’re also used to make firefighting foams and waterproof jackets, food packaging and stain removers, lipstick and ski wax. That makes the PFAS problem — and it is a problem, as we’ll get to below — “bigger than the pan,” Mulvihill says. 

Forever Chemicals 

PFAS have earned the moniker “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down, instead accumulating in the environment and in our bodies. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) reports that 99 percent of Americans have PFAS in their blood; these chemicals are implicated in kidney and testicular cancers, and in endocrine disruption, among other deleterious outcomes. 

This isn’t a byproduct of cooking in nonstick pans — although these pans can only be heated to a certain temperature before their coating releases toxic fumes, and one scratch with a sharp spatula makes that coating start to flake off. Rather, it’s the manufacture of nonstick surfaces that directly pollutes our drinking water with toxic chemicals — an occurrence that’s been well documented, including in a series of articles by Sharon Lerner in The Intercept. 

Some of the chemicals used to make nonstick surfaces also wind up in the wastewater sludge that’s spread on agriculture fields, and from there they are absorbed by crops. Points out Olga Naidenko, vice president of science investigations at EWG, “There are not a lot of places to hide from PFAS pollution.” She also says that there’s currently no good way to dispose of the nonstick pans you’ve already got in your cabinet; they get sent to landfills, where, over time, they leach their chemicals into the soil.

Only two PFAS have been phased out of manufacture, at least in the US: PFOS, once used to make stuff like Scotchguard, which protects carpets from your red-wine mishap; and PFOA, which was once combined with PTFE to make Teflon. But some of the other 4,698 PFAS in existence are being used in industry, “and they’re showing up in people’s water supply, and they’re persistent just like the others,” says Mulvihill. “It’s harder to say with scientific certainty what doses of those affect human health and accumulate in which tissues. Which means we should apply the precautionary principle and try to avoid them.”

DIG DEEPER

Teflon Pan Safety: Pans to Avoid

There’s a dizzying array of nonstick pans out there. Ceramic pans, made with silica (i.e., sand) and “reinforcing chemicals,” claim to be PTFE, PFOA, and sometimes PFOS free. Ditto silicon pans. Some anodized aluminum pans are advertised as “Teflon-free.” And Teflon (a.k.a PTFE) pans boast being PFOA-free. Then there’s GenX, made with a perfluorinated chemical called PFBS that Chemours once insisted would be a non-toxic upgrade from PFOA, but which the company is now having to remediate from the water and land around its plant in Fayetteville, NC. 

Basically, says Mulvihill, the lingo of nonstick pans is purposefully a “world of confusion. But just because a pan says ‘No PFOA’ or ‘No PFAS’ doesn’t mean it doesn’t contain perfluorinated substances.” 

On the one hand, PFOA has been phased out in the US so that claim is a red herring. And remember, PFOA is one of only 4,700 chemicals in the PFAS class.

On the other hand, so-called “PFAS-free” ceramic pans —Thermalon and Calphalon, for example — contain other perfluorinated substances, called perfluorosilicones. “These are a beast unto themselves,” says Mulvihill. They’re structurally similar to PFAS and “will be persistent in the environment and likely in our bodies,” although it’s hard for consumers to find much information about them. Are they safer than PFAS? Maybe, he says. But no one seems to be doing — or sharing — research that would confirm or disconfirm that.

Pans to Embrace

Naidenko uses a shortcut to determine whether or not a pan might contain a Teflon-like material: “A [possible] telltale sign is if the manufacturer says it cannot be heated above a certain temperature,” she says. (Although she also points out that “For cooking safety, it is best to avoid overheating any kind of cookware!”)

Mulvihill’s shortcut: “If eggs stick to the surface of your pan, it does not contain perfluorinated substances; it’s almost as simple as that. Because there’s no way to get a magic Teflon-like surface without using that chemistry.” 

If you’re looking to buy new pans, both experts suggest pans that contain no perfluorinated substances. “The good news is that the cookware market has a tremendous number of options,” Naidenko says. She and Mulvihill both tout stainless steel as a safe, and long-lasting, option. 

“Occasionally cooking eggs on a nonstick pan” isn’t necessarily detrimental to your health, Mulvihill says. But that’s not the point. “These chemicals are now in everyone’s blood, because they’re in our water and food stream, and they never break down. We need to move away from things like this. They’re causing harm — if not directly to us, then to other people and the environment.”

For more information, please visit teflon food safe.