Teflon itself is inert, but it’s also not needed to avoid that food sticks in a pan. In a good prepared Steel pan food sticks less than in a Teflon pan and is way more resistant to damages. The food sticks in the pan, if you don’t wait to add the food until it’s heated enough, not for other reasons, mistake often don by normal users. Professional cooks never use Teflon pans.
Preparing a Steel pan non-stick
Clean the pan after buy it Heat the pan on the kitchen until it change the color Add some oil and heat somewhat more After this, wait until i’s cold enough and distribute and eliminate the oil film over the whole surface with an kitchen paper. Done
After this, to fry something, add a little oil and wait until the oil has enough heat (test with the handle of a wood spoon, if it forms little bubbles on it in the oil, the temperature is OK), to add the food. It will never stick this way.
Mr_Fish@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Again, that’s from getting it to stick to things. The smaller PTFE chemicals that make it possible to suspend Teflon in water are the problem.
Rooskie91@discuss.online 2 days ago
Teflon is the brand name for for the chemical Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Making PTFE requires PFAS, which are the toxic part. Think of PFAS as little bits of chain varying lengths that get strung together to make the larger PTFE molecule.
The argument you’re making sounds similar to something like “Fossil Fuels are safe, it’s just the CO2 that’s dangerous.” PFAS contaminated water being released to the environment is an unavoidable by produce of making Teflon. You can only make Teflon as a solid without suspending the PFAS in water first.
Here’s a pretty good video about the history, manufacturing process, and toxicity.
youtu.be/SC2eSujzrUY
Rednax@lemmy.world 2 days ago
There is one important note: you won’t get cancer from the Teflon in your pans. You get it from the PFAS used to produce the pans. This means you don’t have to throw out all your pans, as if they were made from lead and asbestos. Just make sure not to buy new ones with Teflon.
ExFed@programming.dev 2 days ago
I didn’t read it that way at all. Their argument sounds more like “there’s nuance that you’re glossing over.”
It seems that we all agree PFAS are generally nasty chemicals, some worse than others. Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene) is just one of the “nicer” ones.
BakerBagel@midwest.social 2 days ago
You can’t make teflon without the PFAS though. It’s like saying AIDS is completely different than HIV
BrokenGlepnir@lemmy.world 2 days ago
It’s also what makes it cheap. Making Teflon other ways is much more expensive.
Shareni@programming.dev 2 days ago
It’s releasing a high amount of micro and nano plastics, and those are linked to different health issues including cancer.
www.sciencedirect.com/…/S0048969724027232
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37419366/