Is Your Nonstick Pan Safe? Here's How You Can Tell
Nonstick cookware, which are teflon-coated, are appreciated for how easy they are to use and clean. However, some question the safety of the chemical-coated dishes. More specifically, the PTFE and PFAS (used in the coating) that are said to mix with your food during use earn them a bad rep.
Last year, the US saw an increase in reported cases of "Teflon flu" -- if that raises questions in your mind, you're not alone. Several Reddit users expressed the same concerns, with some wondering whether inhaling Teflon fumes while cooking is dangerous. The good news is that if your cookware was made after a certain year and you use it properly, you should be in the clear. But there's also a bit more to the story. Here's what you need to know about Teflon flu and using your nonstick kitchenware without health worries.
Read more: Never Raise Your Air Fryer Above This Temperature
What is Teflon flu?
Air fryer baskets are often made with a synthetic nonstick coating.
David Watsky/CNET
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). PTFE's are known as "forever chemicals" since 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
Under normal use, PTFE's 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 is easy to use, clean and maintain but it should only be used 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, too. 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, perfluorooctanoic acid is a manufactured perfluorochemical developed in the 1930s and used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water.
Thanks to a federal ban, all Teflon and nonstick cookware made after 2013 should be free of harmful PFOA. Europe enacted the same ban in 2008.
All-Clad
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.
CNET
As recently as 2017, 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 2004 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 2013 may be toxic
All that was enough for most manufacturers to halt the production of nonstick coatings using PFOA around 2002. Teflon using PFOA wasn't officially banned in the United States until 2014. Europe banned it in 2008. That means if you own Teflon nonstick cookware from 2013 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 around $30. Luxury cookware brand All-Clad makes a two-piece nonstick cookware set for $60.
The Always Pan is a nonstick ceramic alternative to Teflon cookware.
Our Place
The best natural nonstick cookware alternatives
If you're ready to ditch Teflon and chemical-based nonstick pots and pans altogether, there are plenty of more natural nonstick alternatives.
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 $20.
Cast iron develops a nonstick patina over time and is a natural alternative to Teflon.
Angela Lang/CNET
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 $89, but there are cheaper options out there.
FAQs
Should I worry about buying Teflon nonstick cookware?
The Teflon brand stopped using PFOA, the offending chemical behind Teflon flu, in 2013. That means that it should be safe to use new Teflon cookware any way you see fit -- though it couldn't hurt to continue being cautious when using new nonstick cookware.
Can I only catch Teflon flu from Teflon products?
No. The name Teflon flu originates from the Teflon brand because they famously used PFOA chemicals in the process of creating its cookware before 2013. However, that doesn't mean your cookware is PFOA-free. If your cookware is created in the US, it should be free of harmful chemicals. But cheap companies and off-brands that create cookware in countries without PFOA bans often still use the chemical in their products, and those might still wind up in your hands.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
2 High-Yield Healthcare Dividend Stocks to Buy Hand Over Fist in June
The average healthcare stock has a yield of just 1.7%. Medtronic's dividend yield is 3.3%. Alexandria Real Estate Equities' yield is 7.4%. 10 stocks we like better than Medtronic › The healthcare sector isn't exactly known for offering huge yields, with Health Care Select Sector SPDR (NYSEMKT: XLV) offering a yield of just 1.7%. If dividend investors take some time to dig into the sector, however, they can do much better. For example, Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) has a 3.3% yield today, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE: ARE) is offering a yield of 7.4%. Here's what you need to know about each of these high-yield healthcare stocks. Medtronic makes medical devices. It is one of the largest competitors in the space, making products across the cardiovascular, neuroscience, medical surgical, and diabetes categories. It has a leading position in each of the areas in which it operates, and it operates on a global scale. That said, the last few years haven't been the best ones for the company. Innovation, which is highly important in the healthcare space, can be lumpy. And given Medtronic's size, the business has become a little cumbersome. Growth has stalled out, and profitability has come under pressure. Investors have focused on the negatives pushing the shares lower and the dividend yield up toward the high end of Medtronic's historical yield range. If you are a dividend investor that thinks in decades and not days, however, this is likely to be an investment opportunity. The company's innovation pipeline is starting to turn into new-product introductions. As new products gain traction, financial performance is likely to improve. And management has been working to streamline the business with cost cuts and a move to refocus on its most profitable operations. To that end, the company is set to spin off its lower-margin diabetes division in 2026. The move is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings, and the dividend policy isn't expected to change. All in, Medtronic is doing what it needs to do to get back on the growth path. And that should support continued dividend increases; the medical device maker only has two years to go before it hits Dividend King status (50+ years of annual dividend increases). June could be an opportune time to buy the stock hand over fist. Alexandria is a real estate investment trust (REIT), which seems pretty far away from healthcare. Its primary focus is on office properties, which also seems a bit removed from healthcare. The key here is that the REIT owns biomedical research facilities, which combine research space and office space in one property. Both are important to each other since the research takes place in specialized space, while the analysis of that research takes place in a normal office environment. Alexandria is one of the largest pure play medical research REITs you can buy. Alexandria counts some of the largest and most important medical research groups as tenants, from both the private side of the equation and the government side. However, like any landlord, the REIT's revenues will be impacted by the occupancy levels of its properties. And those rise and fall over time. Right now, occupancy is relatively weak, dropping to 91.7% at the end of the first quarter of 2025 from 94.6% at the end of 2024. Swings like this happen from time to time, but Wall Street is treating Alexandria as if its dividend is at a material risk of being cut. Only the funds from operations (FFO) payout ratio in the first quarter was a fairly strong 57%. There's room for adversity before a dividend cut would be in order. To be fair, office properties, and particularly highly specialized office properties, tend to have higher operating costs than other real estate assets. But it seems highly likely that Alexandria will manage its way through this weak patch and continue to extend its 15-year streak of annual dividend increases. For income lovers, this healthcare REIT is worth a deep dive in June. The average healthcare stock has an uninspiring dividend yield. But the average is made up of many different companies, some of which actually have very attractive dividend yields. That list includes industry-leading companies like Medtronic and Alexandria Real Estate. You might just want to pick up shares in one, or both, of these high yielders before June is over after you get to know them a little better. Before you buy stock in Medtronic, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Medtronic wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $664,089!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $881,731!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 Reuben Gregg Brewer has positions in Medtronic. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The Motley Fool recommends Medtronic and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $75 calls on Medtronic and short January 2026 $85 calls on Medtronic. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 2 High-Yield Healthcare Dividend Stocks to Buy Hand Over Fist in June was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Newsweek
34 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Boy Wears Eyepatch in First School Photo—Had No Idea the Danger He'd Beaten
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A man who lost his eye to cancer as a child has shared a school photograph taken not long after, and which one commenter said made him "the coolest kid in class." Dertrick Winn Jr, 31, from Austin, Texas, took to Reddit's r/OldSchoolCool on June 17 via his account u/ninjadertie, where he wrote simply: "I lost my eye to cancer when I was about 5. This is me on my first picture day (1998)." Attached to the post was the school photograph, with Winn beaming at the camera, his denim shirt buttoned up to the last, and a large black patch covering one of his eyes. "It's honestly my favorite photo ever, and the memories that it triggers are all good ones," he told Newsweek. "I got a lot of comments saying I was brave, and a warrior, and an inspiration. Those comments are very kind. I'm sure they were all true about me, but what's also the truth is I had no idea the kind of danger I had overcome. "I was treated with so much love and attention that I probably just thought I had the flu or something. I spent most of my time in the hospital playing video games, watching the Power Rangers movie on repeat and chasing medicine with apple juice. The whole thing felt like a sweet adventure and the older I get, the more I'm convinced that that is exactly what it was." He remembers it all, he told Newsweek—"I even remember the first day waking up after my enucleation, the surgical removal of my eyeball." Enucleation sees the entire eye removed, but the muscles that control eye movement left intact and resewn to the artificial eye, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Winn shared in a Reddit comment that he now uses a fake eye. Recalling the surgery, Winn said he and his family were staying at the Ronald McDonald House, which houses the families of sick children, and he awoke with a "huge egg-shaped bandage on my eye. Dertrick Winn Jr at around five years old, wearing a patch after losing his eye to cancer. Dertrick Winn Jr at around five years old, wearing a patch after losing his eye to cancer. Reddit u/ninjadertle "But even then, I didn't really seem to 'get' that my right eye had been removed. It was almost as if nothing changed at all, and honestly, I may have been too young to comprehend what exactly had taken place." He called the "eye patch days" at school "a bit of a blur," but remembers "getting a lot of attention from my fellow classmates". Most of it was general curiosity, he said, adding that he doesn't recall any bullying or "anything negative at all." Despite his huge positivity, with Winn revealing his memories of cancer treatment are "mostly fond ones," there are still some things he is "haunted" by, he admitted. Slipping in and out of consciousness under anaesthesia, still "mumbling words of encouragement" to his mother who was by his side at every moment; trying to get out of a hospital bed and being "pushed back down by several clammy, gloved hands" who he understands now weren't trying to hurt him, but whose weight he can still remember; and above all, "the smell of those medical masks." "I have had to wear the mask again for things like dental surgery and lasik and other post-cancer related things in adulthood," he said, and has to steel himself—"because as soon as I get a whiff of that mask, I can almost surely feel the hands pressing me against the bed." He recalled his mother—who is working on a book on her and her son's story—being by his side for everything he went through, even though she was so young herself at the time. "She was 14 when she gave birth to me and had to become an emancipated minor to sign all of the paperwork at the appointments," he said. "My dad stayed behind to work, so most of the trips to Houston were just little me and teenage her on a Greyhound." Winn's Reddit post of his five-year-old self in the eyepatch caught a huge amount of attention, racking up more than 100,000 likes, as one commenter wrote simply: "This would literally be the coolest kid in the class and no one would be able to top this." "Losing an eye to cancer sucks. You're a warrior," another praised Winn, as another said he was "cute but brave too"—to which Winn replied: "My parents are the brave ones."
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
I can think of so many things I love. I'll bet you can, too, and it's empowering
Most friendships include the occasional commiseration conversation. When we're young, those discussions center on homework or dating or parental interference. Eventually, we graduate to work disputes, financial woes and relationship friction. Alas, I've reached the age at which those conversations are constant rather than occasional, and the sources of angst generally are weight gain, politics and maladies. I pride myself on being a positive person, but sometimes waking up with aching knees and a bum shoulder can get depressing. Add to that a volatile stock market, sketchy medical bills and a car issue that may, or may not, be covered by warranty, and it's easy to wallow. Then a friend shared this quote: 'Focus on the things you are for, not the things you are against. Many people spend large chunks of their day thinking about what they hate. They are always telling you about something they dislike: this food, that subject, this political party, that co-worker. You are more than your frustrations. Build your identity around what you love.' It's attributed to James Clear, author of 'Atomic Habits,' though the Google could neither confirm nor deny its origins. Regardless, the message is empowering. So here goes, a few things I love: — I've taken up swimming for the second summer. I've worked my way up to swimming three times a week, one mile at a time. I've learned not to plan anything within two hours of a swim session, because it takes me that long to stop sweating. The thing I love most about swimming? I barely feel those achy joints anymore. — The babies have grown up and gone to college. The toddlers have toddlers of their own. That's how long my family has been gathering for our annual summer reunions. You'd think we'd be tired of them by now, but we're not. This year's trip is three weeks out, and the phone calls and group texts are in full swing as we plan meals, field trips and cabin assignments. I've also started stocking up on Publix BOGOs. (Yay for free Pop-Tarts!) — I recently started driving a new-to-me car that came equipped with Apple CarPlay. How have I driven four and a half decades without being able to shuffle my Pandora stations? Any drive is better when it features Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt, Tyler Childers, the Partridge Family, Marcia Ball and Willie Nelson. It's also kind of awesome having an on-screen map that tells me when I'm 12 minutes from home. — After 21 years of marriage, my husband knows I'm dead calm when I've sliced off the tip of my finger while cutting potatoes. Blood-curdling screams are saved for flying roaches. — I have solved one of the world's greatest mysteries: Where errant socks go. Turns out we're not paranoid. The washing machine really does eat them. At least mine does. Socks like to get caught in the rubber gasket that seals my front-load washer. Sorry, pups. Didn't mean to wrongly accuse you. — And while we're talking about pups, my life is good. There are people who are literally allergic to dogs. — I love having friends who run the gamut when it comes to age, gender and political preferences. They make me smarter, and they make me laugh. They help me understand different perspectives, and they validate my beliefs. A life of homogeneity would be so dull. These are just a few of the things around which I want to build my identity. Now it's your turn. Will you focus on the things you love? Or will you let the things you hate define you? Suzy Fleming Leonard is a retired journalist who spent 25 years as a writer, editor and columnist at FLORIDA TODAY. Reach her at suzy@ This article originally appeared on Florida Today: When you fill your life with love, there's no room for hate | Leonard
