I’m putting this in IMHO because I don’t think there is a definitive answer to this question. It’s related to food, so perhaps it should be in Café Society… :smack:
While I know it’s controversial, the common wisdom is that a well-used Teflon plan will eventually lose it’s coating, and that coating will be mixed with the food being prepared in the pan. And the common wisdom also says that it’s a bad idea to ingest food cooked in a pan that is losing it’s Teflon coating.
If your BS meter is going off you are not alone, but for the sake of argument let’s say that the common wisdom is correct on this point.
Those who believe that Teflon pans are evil typically cook in pans that don’t have a non-stick coating, but instead spray their pan with a non-stick spray, such as Pam. Of course Pam is some kind of oil, such as Canola, with a propellant and some other chemicals. I don’t know how dangerous the propellant and other chemicals are, but I can’t believe they’re good for you either.
So the question is, which is worse? Eating food from a pan that is losing it’s Teflon coating, or food that is prepared using a non-stick spray such as Pam?
I don’t think Pam has a whole lot of random chemicals in it and IIRC the propellent is propane (oddly enough) which I suspect is going to evaporate as soon as it depressurizes in our atmosphere and dissipate before it gets into your food.
I think the problem here is that you’re making a lot of assumptions and trying to draw a conclusion from them. You freely admit that you’re working off the assumption that eating Teflon is bad. I know burning it is, I wouldn’t advocate eating it, I’ve never read into it, but it doesn’t sound all that healthy and I would certainly avoid it. You’re also assuming that Pam is full of ‘chemicals’ and then asking us to choose the lesser of two evils and not giving us other options. From here I found that the ingredients for Pam are ""Canola Oil (Adds a Trivial Amount of Fat), Grain Alcohol, Soy Lecithin, Propellant. " Other varieties here. For the record, I’ve never heard of that site and I’m just assuming it’s correct. I don’t see any chemicals in there that I’d be worried about eating (grain alcohol is ‘drinking’ alcohol and it’s going to evaporate as soon as it hits the heat).
If you’ll allow a compromise. Get a stainless steel pan and use butter if you’re that worried.
Teflon is one of the most inert substances known to man. You could eat it all day long, and all that would happen is that it would pass right through your digestive system. Take a look at this chemical resistance chart. Teflon (PTFE) gets an “Excellent” in every single category.
So does ammonia, I wouldn’t eat that all day long. I’m not a chemist, but from what I can tell, all that chart shows is how much those chemicals react with Teflon, Stainless steel and 3 kinds of plastic. OTOH, Teflon will make you sick if you heat it to high.
You’re misreading the chart. Ammonia is only being compared to the six materials heading the six columns. PTFE is being compared with all the rows, about a hundred chemicals.
Ahhh, I just assumed Teflon was listed as one as the chemicals (as well as being one of the categories). I get it now. It’s just the way Beowulff had it worded and the fact that I didn’t go looking for it in the chart (it does have a G against one of the chemicals).
Calphilon is just anodized aluminum, and is not non-stick. They do have a nonstick pan, which has the standard coating on it. Does their coating vary significantly from others used in the industry?
My apologies for not directly answering your question.
I have purchased the “green” pans that are now advertised on TV. These do not contain Teflon and yet are non-stick. I have found them to be as good as the ads claim.
This is true. However, it is important to note that in this context, “too high” is about 700 degrees Fahrenheit. “Red hot.” If you can avoid heating your pots and pans this much, or resist the temptation to dump a can of baked beans into them when heated this much, you aren’t going to be exposed to any toxic substances from teflon coatings.
I prefer baked enamel cookware or cast iron, but only because it is more durable.
High heat can cause Teflon to decompose, releasing toxic fumes and compromising the non-stick coating. At home we use a Teflon-coated pan for cooking delicate foods like salmon at moderate temperatures; we use a stainless steel pan for pretty much everything else, which allows us to hit whatever temperatures we want.
Sometimes if we’re cooking eggs in the stainless steel pan, we’ll spray it with PAM first; the only reason we don’t bother using the Teflon-coated pan for eggs (which get cooked at fairly low temps) is that we’ve typically already been using the SS pan for cooking up hashbrowns and sausage.
The ingredients in PAM are no mystery. They’re listed on the side of the can, and match what Joey P reported.
Or maybe you don’t own a can of PAM. But rather than simply professing (and standing by) your ignorance, have you considered Googling to find out exactly what the propellant and those other chemicals are, and then maybe digging a bit further to learn about any hazards associated with those chemicals?
On a Cafe Society-type tangent, note that oil added to the pan to reduce sticking should be applied after the pan is hot. If you want to spray it on rather than pour it in, an alternative to Pam and the like is an oil sprayer.
Inhaling the fumes can lead to a condition known as polymer fume fever, which will make you feel pretty sick, and is particularly dangerous to any pet birds you might have (their lungs absorb toxins that human lungs don’t).
That said, I have a can of cooking spray which says that “concentrating and inhaling the contents may be harmful or fatal”, but this sounds like a canned statement found on most aerosol cans, regardless of whether their contents are toxic or not (of course, even water can be fatal if inhaled). One also has to love the “adds a trivial amount of fat” disclaimer, as if only a small portion of it is fat (not that it really adds up to much).
One should also note that overheating cooking spray, or any other oil or food, will produce toxic byproducts, at temperatures as low as 250°F (that is, no charring) for starchy foods (acrylamide).
I’ve always used both. I personally have never found a non-stick pan that I didn’t need to at least use the spray on for cooking eggs. When the coating wears off, you have to use oil.
Really? I was always taught to add oil while the pan is cold, to avoid the risk of unwittingly heating the pan enough to start an oil fire while I’m still holding the oil.
Anyhow, the thing with Teflon (and I’m presuming other types of non-stick coatings) is you have to take care of the pans. If you read the instructions that come with them, many will remind you not to use too much heat (for this reason, I keep a cast iron skillet handy for when I want to cook something that requires searing or pan frying), and that you should not use metal utensils (they can scrape the coating off very easily, and even if you aren’t concerned about eating teflon filings, you can see how the coating is less effective once you remove it from the cooking surface). Use wooden or plastic utensils with teflon.
Also, and this is a bit counter-intuitive, at least to me, but you shouldn’t use cooking spray on teflon pans. Use butter or oil. Evidently the spray can get cooked onto the teflon surface and make it less sticky (weird).
I’m guessing that other types of cookware have their own quirks and do-nots (like washing Cast Iron skillets in the dishwasher), I’m mostly just familiar with those related to teflon.