Teflon non-stick pan cancer? PTFE is harmful to humans?

In daily life, many people using non-stick pans will encounter problems such as coating off, start sticking to food, scratches on the bottom of the pan, etc. When encountering these situations, many people will have questions: the coating on the surface of the non-stick pan is PTFE, will the non-stick pan coating come off toxic? Today Dankai small to answer your confusion.

First of all, a brief introduction to polytetrafluoroethylene.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) has outstanding excellent overall performance, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, non-stick, self-lubricating, excellent dielectric properties, very low coefficient of friction. Used as engineering plastics, can be made into PTFE tubes, rods, strips, plates, films, etc..

Used in high performance requirements of corrosion-resistant pipes, containers, pumps, valves, as well as the production of radar, high-frequency communication equipment, radio equipment. Adding any filler to PTFE that can withstand the sintering temperature of PTFE, the mechanical properties can be greatly improved.

At the same time to maintain PTFE other excellent performance. Filled varieties of glass fiber, metal, metalized oxide, graphite, molybdenum disulfide, carbon fiber, polyimide, EKONOL, etc., wear resistance, extreme PV value can be increased by 1000 times.

PTFE is also known as non-stick coating or easy to clean material, this material has the characteristics of acid and alkali resistance, resistance to various organic solvents, almost insoluble in all solvents. At the same time, Teflon has the characteristics of high temperature resistance, and its coefficient of friction is extremely low, so it can be used as a lubricating effect, but also become the ideal coating for the inner layer of easy-to-clean water pipes. Teflon itself is not toxic to people. The use temperature is -190～250℃.

Teflon is toxic but does not cause harm to humans, non-stick coating is mainly Teflon, for polymer coating, the main possible risk from the material residue or small molecules released during use. Many people worry that heating will make the coating decompose and release harmful substances, such as certain perfluorinated compounds.

Non-stick pan coating using PTFE (Teflon) dispersion emulsion, because the molecular structure of PTFE is large molecules hold, so it is necessary to add stabilizing additives to make PTFE stable and uniform dispersion in the emulsion, the current domestic manufacturers generally use PFOA or PFOS as additives, but PFOA and PFOS is a class 2B carcinogenic substances, Europe and the United States prohibit the import of fluoropolymers containing PFOA and PFOS fluoropolymer, general foreign production of PTFE companies do not use such carcinogenic substances as additives.

Therefore, when consumers buy non-stick pans, you need to pay attention to whether the product is marked free of PFOA and PFOS, such as clearly stated, the product can be purchased with confidence. In addition, PTFE can be long-term and stable at 260 degrees Celsius, short-term temperature resistance of up to 327 degrees. European and American consumers' cooking habits are generally based on less oil, high temperature, etc., and pay more attention to the original flavor and nutritional value of ingredients, while domestic consumers' cooking habits are generally based on high oil, frying, stir-frying, high temperature, so the same quality of non-stick pans in Europe and the United States to use then longer life, while in the domestic use then shorter life.

A number of studies on polymer coatings for non-stick pans show that they may release trace amounts of perfluorinated compounds at high temperatures, but the possibility of release during cooking is not great. For example, boiling in brine and water for 2 hours, or heating in soybean oil to 280 degrees did not reveal the typical PFC breakdown and leaching.

Overall, non-stick pans without PFOA and PFOS are harmless to humans, non-stick coating with increased use, the release of perfluorochemicals will be less and less, with non-stick coating appliances as long as you avoid high-temperature dry burning, safety is guaranteed, the health risks of perfluorochemicals for the time being is not large, we can rest a little.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)