Monday, 28 September 2009

• Teflon For Lunch?

  
  
  

  So upon making lunch today we noticed that the pan (less than 6 months old) were getting chips in the Teflon.
  
  Upon trying to make a sauce it was nasty because you could see the chips floating in the milk. After changing the pans, my husband took over and he forgot to was the noodles off and added the sauce. It tasted TERRIBLE. You could taste this odd taste and find black chips in it! Needless to say, we didn't end up eating that lunch. I remember going to a cooking show and having them lecture me about how you shouldn't use Teflon because it wasn't good for your digestive system when it inevitably chipped off. Of course they were trying to sell you some new pots and pans. I decided to do a little research of my own.
  
  Now, about 70% of the cookware sold in the U.S. has some sort of nonstick coating, according to the Cookware Manufacturers Association. According to a Dupont rep. Dan Turner there is no problem, of course it is their product and one false move and the U.S. cooking industry would change as we know it, well as far as pots and pans are concerned. According to the EPA, low levels of the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA in the blood of 90% of Americans, however, she didn't think that the cookware was necessarily the culprit. (Susan Hazen) This chemical can be found through some tests run by the FDA, but the studies aren't really given too much weight because really aren't realistic as they actually had to grind the surface of the pan to find small traces of the chemical. They don't really know what kinds of issues low dosages of this chemical have on humans as they have only done tests on lab animals and in high dosages.
  
  I found a good article with some hints on how to avoid problems with this chemical.
  
  · Don’t overheat it! PFOA gas can be released if the pot is heated above 600 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s easy to do if you put a pan on to heat and forget it.
  · Don’t use metal utensils. Even though non-stick coatings are much more durable now than 20 years ago, it’s still easy to damage the coating.
  · Don’t submerse hot cookware in cold water. That can also damage the coating because the temperature extremes destabilize the surface.
  · Replace cookware that’s scratched or flaking. That probably goes without saying. Cooking with Teflon is one thing; actually eating it is entirely different!
  
  Watch the stores for more PFOA free pots and pans and be sure to pay attention to what is happening to your food if you cook off of Teflon pans. Have you ever noticed this happen to you before? What kinds of cooking surface to your prefer? Do you think that the concern with this chemical is invalid? Do you plan on dumping your Teflon and buying one of the many alternatives?

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