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What's in Non-Stick Cookware and How to Read Through the Misleading Labels

Let me be clear:  I do not use nonstick coated pans.  I recommend cast iron, stainless steel, glass for your every day cooking needs and the occasional enameled cast iron (for bread baking and stews)  or perhaps ceramic (I have one Xtrema pan).

But many people desperately want the ease of cooking with a nonstick pan and ask me about different options they see in stores- and labels they read that seem to indicate they are safe……

A new study is backing me up and providing some clarity on misleading labels in non-stick cookware. They looked at 14 nonstick cooking pans and 10 nonstick baking pans  from 20 brands to identify their coatings.      

But first:  Lets back up.

Why dont I like non-stick/trust cookware?

The main chemicals of concern with non-stick cookware are a family of chemicals called PFAS/PFC.  This is a family comprised of hundreds of different chemicals, which  have a lot in common and those that have been studied have been shown to be (very) harmful for us and for the environment. 

Commonly used PFAS contribute to liver disease, cholesterol buildup, impaired response to vaccines, thyroid disease, asthma, lowered fertility, and high blood pressure in pregnant women. Elevated risk of testicular and kidney cancer have been found in highly exposed people.  Environmentally: almost everyone’s water supply is contaminated with PFAS chemicals (many water filters do not remove PFAS) and it is extremely difficult to remove.  In fact, “in 2006, DuPont scientists acknowledged in a publication that most PFOA and related PFAS chemicals made since the 1950s have ended up in our environment”

The ‘old’ formulation for Teflon was made of PTFE which contained a PFAS chemical called PFOA - this is a suspected carcinogen and has been completely phased out of cookware since 2013 ( PFOA and some closely related chemicals (such as PFOS) are now no longer made in the US, although they are still made in some other countries and could potentially reach US consumers in certain types of products. ) ….. the question has  remained though:  if we know most members of the PFAS family  are bad- what is being used in current non-stick cookware in lieu of PFOA?

The answer is that most of the time its: a new formulation of PTFE. But now PTFE contains another PFAS chemical called Gen X  (this is what  Dupont, one of the main makers of the ‘new improved, PFOA free’ Teflon,is using as a replacement.  Other chemical companies use other PFAS chemicals) .  

Gen X  and these new replacement chemicals have already been documented to have harmful effects too…. in fact, “documents submitted by DuPont to the U.S. EPA indicate that GenX has been associated with increased risk of health effects in laboratory animal studies, including risks of cancer, increased weight, changes to the immune system and cholesterol levels, fluctuations in size of kidneys and livers, cancerous tumors in liver pancreas and testicles, and reproductive effects.”

The Ecology’s Center’s FINDINGS  

Now back to this new research (please note:  they did not test for PFOA, GenX, or other PFAS chemicals JUST PTFE.  We know that these other chemicals are being manufactured and used in PTFE currently and so could also be found in these pans ) 

  1. FINDING: 79% (11 of the 14 )of the cooking pans were PTFE-coated.

    (see table)

2. Two baking pans and one cooking pan were coated with BPA-based epoxy without any indication of coating type on the packaging.

  • CONCERN: BPA-based epoxy is the same material notorious for leaching the hormone disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) into canned foods. BPA is an endocrine disruptor. One 2007 study found BPA migrated into olive oil from baking pans coated with BPA-based epoxy both at room temperature and when heated,

  • Brands: Cooking Concepts” at Dollar Tree and “Evolution” at Dollar General

3. 20% of the baking pans were PTFE-coated, while….

4. 60% of the baking pans were coated with a material containing both silicone and polyester polymers

  • slightly better than PTFE but…

  • siloxanes can leach out of silicone when exposed to high heat.

  • BETTER ALTERNATIVE: cast iron, stainless steel and glass

Is cooking with PTFE (and BPA) coated pans a danger?

Yes.

PTFE pans WILL release hazardous chemicals when heated, especially above 400-500 F  (the equivalent of medium high and high in a stove top burner) 
Once these chemicals are produced they will remain on Earth in our environment forever (this is why they are called ‘forever chemicals’  they have a really hard time breaking down. They make their way into our food and water and back into our bodies

BPA resin is well documented to release endocrine (hormone) disrupting chemicals into our food.

CONCLUSIONS

If you have PTFE-coated nonstick pans, use them cautiously and never on high heat.

●      When buying new cooking pans, consider cast iron, stainless steel, or enameled cast iron (from a company that shows testing for heavy metals).

●     Ceramic: use with caution. Some companies publish their heavy metal testing but most do not. Make sure you can confirm they are lead free. If a  company does not share this information, best to be safe and stick to safer materials.

●     When buying new baking pans, consider glass, cast iron, or ceramic.

●      Beware of marketing claims, such as “PFOA-free.” This does not mean PFAS-free. Choose pans that tell you what they are made of.




Want to read more?

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SOURCES

https://www.ecocenter.org/healthy-stuff/pages/what%E2%80%99s-cooking#_edn1

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28913736/

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp200.pdf

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-06/documents/drinkingwaterhealthadvisories_pfoa_pfos_updated_5.31.16.pdf

https://www.c8sciencepanel.org/index.html