Cookware with a Side of Forever Chemicals
A Guide to a Less-Toxic Kitchen (Toxic Chemicals, Part Two).
Last week, we talked about my unfortunate habit of eating plastic for breakfast. If you, like me, generally want to consume less petroleum- and chemical-laden food, that means not only watching what you eat, but also how you store and cook your food. In other words, you’ll need to craft a non-toxic kitchen.
Of course, the most sustainable item is the one you already own. Unfortunately, the same isn’t necessarily true for the ‘least-toxic’ item. I’ll offer some suggestions and guidelines for better cookware and kitchen supplies, but don’t feel the need to run out and buy everything on the list. If you are looking to detox your home, start with the kitchen materials you use most often (like your baking sheet and sauté pan), and the most obviously problematic (like anything plastic). Other transitions are easy enough to make when you need to replace an item.
The PFAS Problem in Cookware
I’ve just accepted that today I’m going to sound like a broken record: For almost every kitchen gadget you can think of, the biggest toxin of concern is PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. These are most often known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily in the environment, so they can contaminate soil, waterways, and, when released at high temperatures, the air. These chemicals are what give most cookware their non-stick finishes— and they show up in almost every cookware brand, unless you intentionally seek out alternatives.
Sheet pans, forever chemicals. Cake pan, forever chemicals. T-fal skillets, definitely forever chemicals.
Theoretically, if you are using a brand new pan without any scratches at low heat, you probably won’t release these chemicals into your food. But at higher heat levels, PFAS can become toxic— in fact, “Teflon toxicity” is one of the most common ways that pet birds experience poisoning when they inhale the fumes from non-stick pans. And, of course, a scratched pan is its own hazard: A recent study found that scratched PFAS non-stick pans could release as many as 2.3 million micro and nanoplastics while cooking a single meal.
Beyond your own household, PFAS chemicals in the environment are a serious cause for concern. In the United States, the Environmental Working group offers an interactive map demonstrating more than 40,000 industrial locations known or suspected to release PFAS into the environment. Companies such as 3M and DuPont have known for decades that these forever chemicals pose a risk to animal and human health, yet these products still found their way into most kitchens and nearly every corner of the globe.
In the United States, the EPA just this week released its first set of regulations intended to limit six common forever chemicals in drinking water. While this monumental decision could improve water safety for more than 100 million people, it still doesn’t address other household exposure to forever chemicals, nor does it send a clear enough message to companies that customers are no longer interested in consuming their breakfast with a side of chemicals.
Ready to ditch the toxins in your cookware? Here’s some switches:
Natural aluminum bakeware— Ditch the PFAS by finding a baking sheet without any toxic coatings. I personally use Nordic Ware Naturals aluminum bakeware, which is “free of coatings and harmful chemicals and made without PFOA/PTFE/PFAS.” Even without nonstick properties, I’ve never had trouble with cakes or muffins sticking (frittatas, on the other hand…whoops). Some people love ceramic-coated baking sheets, which are also fine, but the ceramic coating tends to be more fussy to maintain (no metal scrubbers allowed).
Stainless steel pans — Aluminum isn’t so great for acidic things (like tomato sauce), so you’ll want to have a pure clad stainless steel pot. I’ve had my Calphalon Classic stainless steel pots for nearly a decade and love the thoughtful details, like a drain in the lid. A decade is a long time for things to change though, so I did reach out to customer service to confirm they were still coating free (they are).
Glass, and more glass— By far the easiest way to go toxin-free in your cooking and food storage (yes, you should ditch the Tupperware already!) is with glass containers. Anchor Hocking or Pyrex containers are great for cooking and food storage, especially freezer meals— although their plastic lids don’t exactly stand the test of time. Also note that Pyrex glass containers are not curbside recyclable, since the tempered glass is treated to withstand higher temperatures than soda-lime glass (like, for example, a glass applesauce jar).
If you’re a fan of decanting your bulk groceries, Bermioli Rocco jars are my personal favorite: affordable (and easy to find secondhand!) and fully recyclable, as well as lead, cadmium, and arsenic free. Mason jars, too, are great for canning and storage. Most reputable glassware is a great option for food contact, just be aware that any antique glass is likely to be leaded, so unsafe for food and drink.Ceramic pans— If you are looking for a product with some non-stick features, ceramic is the way to go. Caraway is the luxury option that has taken the Internet by storm, but after putting them to the test for over 3 years, I can attest to their quality. I don’t think you need every product in their lineup— their sauté pan easily doubles as a fry pan, and you don’t need their sauce pans if you already have a stainless steel pan. (Also note that ceramic surfaces have finicky cooking and cleaning restrictions— like sticking to low or medium heat and wood or silicone utensils, and hand-washing without abrasives).
Silicone freezer storage— Glass is a great freezer option (Pyrex and Ball branded mason jars are both freezer safe), but if you need something that takes up a little less room, Stasher silicone bags and Souper Cube portioned freezer trays are both better than freezing in plastic.
Wood, metal, or silicone utensils— For my fussy ceramic pans, I use GIR silicone utensils. But your absolute safest kitchen bets are still bamboo or metal, with no plastic components (and certainly none touching the food!).
Swap the crock pot for an Insta-Pot. Many slow cookers use a PTFE non-stick insert, or stoneware glazes that haven’t been leach tested for heavy metals. Because food is in contact with a slow cooker at high heat levels for hours at a time (and slow-cooked foods are often acidic, such as tomato bases— which can increase leaching)— it’s preferable to switch to an all stainless steel options like the Insta-Pot.
What about cast iron? Y’all, I am a Southern cook through and through, and I love me some cast iron. But cast iron does leach iron into food. In fact, this fascinating 2021 literature review found that in developing countries, iron pots can even be a low-cost intervention to treat anemia, since “amount of iron doubled in meat and vegetables and increased by 1.5 times in legumes when cooked in iron pots.” For individuals with iron sensitivities, this could be a problem. I’m not telling you to ditch your cast iron (it’s still generally a great kitchen tool), just be aware if you happen to have health issues that could be exacerbated by iron exposure.
These brands obviously aren’t the only ones on the market— but as someone who has spent a lot of time and effort finding less toxic but still super-functional options, they’ve worked for me. Feel free to share yours in the comments!
If you are looking to vet a specific product:
Any product made with Teflon, a brand name for the chemical coating PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), contains forever chemicals. Almost any kitchen gadget made with plastic will contain something yucky, whether it’s BPA or BPS. It also helps to search for chemical disclosures on a manufacturer’s website (which may or may not be readily available). For example, Le Creuset’s chemical disclosure states that its nonstick product line “contains chemicals from the PFAS family including PTFE, FEP, and PFA.”
Ideally, a manufacturer will clearly state that they are lead/ cadmium/ heavy metal free, as well as free of PTFE/ PFOA/PFAS. If they list just one of these, be aware that the company might be swapping one type of forever chemical for another (you see this most often with “PFOA-free” advertisements).
What about non-toxic tableware?
Tableware is an absolute landmine with far fewer rigorous scientific studies— so I debated whether or not I even wanted to dive in.
Of course, there’s the obvious: Please don’t eat off plastic plates (and definitely not Styrofoam!) or microwave in Tupperware. Any time you see food discoloration or scratch marks on plastic, that’s a sign that your kitchenware is not only more vulnerable to bacteria, but also leaching higher levels of chemicals (and releasing micro-plastics into your food).
Melamine, which is frequently used for outdoor dining, is also a plastic. Specifically, melamine combined with formaldehyde (yuck!) is used to make a melamine resin that becomes our dinnerware. In the United States, the FDA has recommended not microwaving in melamine, but a 2013 medical study found that even consuming a warm item (noodle soup) in a melamine bowl increased urinary excretions of melamine for several hours.
As long as you aren’t eating on plastic, you should dodge all the yucky BPA/ BPS and forever chemicals. So the biggest concern in other dinnerware is heavy metals like lead (which is found in trace amounts in nearly all clay) and cadmium.
Vintage dishes are often problematic— pre-2005 Corelle featured some leaded designs, and some early to mid-20th century FiestaWare was even radioactive! Modern dishes with coloration or designs still frequently test positive for lead or cadmium, so if this is something you’re concerned about, your safest bet is to choose glass or all-white ceramic or porcelain dinnerware.
But there’s a lot of back and forth about the difference between containing and leaching a heavy metal like lead, because products with metals in the clay (contained under a glaze) may or may not release these metals to the food surface. If you’re investigating your own dishes or need to replace your dinnerware, a reputable manufacturer should be able to provide you with independent test results for metal leaching. For example, we own Fable pasta dishes, and can find their product testing reports right on their website.
Do you have any tried and true non-toxic cooking recommendations? Let us know in the comments, and happy less-toxic cooking!
My biggest recommendation is for a crock pot replacement that lets you use your own stainless steel pots for slow cooking, saving a huge amount of power and eliminating the fear of burning or fires. It is Wonderbag.
Simply bring your ingredients to a boil for 5-7 minutes then place covered pot in the bag and close it up. Hours later, open and eat a hot dish. I make beans, peas, pastas, chicken soup with rice, beef stew with potatoes, etc in the late morning, close up the pot, and have dinner ready 8 hours later. Plus it is a great company. Here's the link:
https://www.wonderbagworld.com/