March 11, 2010
Non-stick Cookware - Misinformation is Prelevant
There is a lot of misinformation or just bad information regarding non-stick cookware floating about in the Internet.
I see frequent Tweets, Face Book posts and blogs referencing reports from organizations or individuals with vested interests that are poorly researched or with opinion not backed by facts. It appears that continued use of non-stick cookware will kill a majority of our birds or cause liver cancer for all in the vicinity. This is mostly inaccurate!
According to the Voluntary Stewardship Program, non-stick coating manufactures have until 2015 to phase out all
products that have resins made with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) but most will be in compliance by 2011 and many have made the switch all ready.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency previously tasked manufactures with reducing their PFOA emissions by 95% before 2010 and they did.
Now, coating manufacturers are taking additional steps to ensure that their products are in compliance or better because consumers are asking for it and because they have the capability to do so now.
Despite slanted reports otherwise and much publicity regarding PFOA, non-stick coating manufacturers have maintained consistently that PFOA is not present in finished cookware product. The curing process effectively burns off any PFOA that may be in the coatings material, resulting in a finished product that if PFOA free.
Supporting this is a 2007 Consumer Reports research task to ascertain the potential release of PFOA from an over heated pan. The research tested pans from different manufactures and simulate consumer usage of one, three and six months of use. Researchers then heated the pans to 400o F and measure the air above the products. Consumer Reports study found very little PFOA in the tested air samples. The highest level was about 100 times lower that the levels that animal studies suggested are a concern for ongoing exposure to PFOA.
However, to address the continuing consumer perceptions, non-stick coating makers have developed replacement coatings without PFOA and some have also eliminated PTFE. According to industry analysts, four major coating suppliers offer coatings without PFOA including Dupont whose brand is Teflon.
Recently release products use silicone and ceramic coating (Swiss Diamond uses a diamond coating without PFOA). Several of the traditional producers have not been convinced the new PTFE free coatings will perform adequately over time and they tend to have less durability.
From the consumer’s point of view, if there is a significant concern regarding emissions for their non-stick cookware that is more than four years old, these products could be replaced. But unlike the fear mongers on Twitter, non-stick does not have to be banned from your kitchen. Non-stick products released in the last year or so are PFOA free. And so called “green“ products are also PTFE free.
On Iron Chef America and other celebrity chef cooking shows, you can observe them using non-stick cookware often. It just works best for some applications. So you can still create those great omelets with you non-stick skillet without endangering birds or anyone in your family.
Filed under Chef Wannabee, cookware by yogiwan


















