Be aware of non stick pans

Most parrot owners already know this but I felt like some people might not and it can’t hurt to remind/mention it:

The kitchen is already a dangerous place for your birds when you’re cooking, accidents always happen. But I want to talk about how non stick pans and teflon is extremely poisonous for birds! A lot of times I read about people finding their birds dead in their cages with no explanation and no signs of illness, “sudden deaths” and I’m never surprised when I hear they had cooked with teflon/non stick pans in the presence of their birds the same day or multiple times before

So new parrot owners and those who didn’t know, please be careful

"Non-stick" isn't necessarily deadly.... it's PTFE.... And Teflon is just *ONE* brand name of PTFE.

PTFE is also sold under...

• T-Fal
• Silverstone,
• Flura
• Excalibur
• Supra
• Xylon
• Greblon
• Resistal
• Duracote
• Autograph
• Scanpan
• etc

Good to remind experienced owners, and of course informnew owners of this cause of parrot deaths.
A good rule of thumb - if its non-stick anything on cookware assume it is some sort or variation of teflon. This coating also shows up in some products that you might not realize . On the heating elements of heaters, crockpots, cloths irons, bread making machines, rice cookers and in the non-stick coatings of microwavable products like microwave popcorn and so forth. It shows up in some subtle ways.

The problem is that most, but not all, reasearch shows that teflon does not outgas dangerous fumes if it is not overheated. Note - most research, but not all. That research is far from 100% certain in its results, not performed on every new formulation of the basic PTFE compound, and really importantly, research is done with regard to its effect on HUMANS, not pets and definately not specifically on birds. What is also not considered is poorly compounded material, poorly applied, cheap, inaccurrate temperature controls on the actual heating elements or other control devices.

Each parrot owner and family has to consider the above and make the decision themselves. I can only relate what my family and I did uopn learning the above information, which was to toss out our coated cookware and get new uncoated ones, we stopped using non-stick anything and check with the actual manufacturer of any product that uses some sort of heat to do its job, like a space heater. Not the retailer, not the distributor but the actual manufacturer and in most cases even they have no solid answer as far as the actualcoating or the tested accuracy of the control device. If there was any uncertainty or hesitation in their response, we either threw out the unit or didn't buy it.

Parrots are such a difficult to own pet, especially if you love yours and want to do the best thing for them, that we'll often suggest an easier to care for animal to folks that ask about owning one. I so wish that sellers and prospective buyers were better informed prior to the sale.

DuPont conducts a lot of its own research and those studies typically are the ones that show off-gassing only occurs at higher temperatures/ with "improper use". Sadly, there have been reports (verified by academic sources -not just anecdotal) of birds being killed from temperatures throughout the 300 degree F range (much lower than the temperatures reported to cause hazards by DuPont). There is a very famous incident in which MU (University of Missouri) lost 1000 chicks as a result of heat lamps coated in PTFE (Teflon) and the bulbs never exceeded 396 F.

Age of the pan, acidity of the food, water content, oil content, cook-time etc can also all influence variations in off-gassing.

I rely on a set of good quality stainless steel pans and 20+ year old Pyrex pans for everything. The Pyrex is literally from my childhood so it might be 30+! Food might stick sometimes but a quick soak in hot soapy water and some scrubbing is no problem for me.

Same here. Good stainless ( Revereware) some Pyrex glass and 1 cast iron skillet is all we need.

MonicaMc said:

"Non-stick" isn't necessarily deadly.... it's PTFE.... And Teflon is just *ONE* brand name of PTFE.

PTFE is also sold under...

• T-Fal
• Silverstone,
• Flura
• Excalibur
• Supra
• Xylon
• Greblon
• Resistal
• Duracote
• Autograph
• Scanpan
• etc

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! I just felt like it happened more often with the pans being overcooked/used improperly and wouldn’t want anyone here to go through it

noodles123 said:

DuPont conducts a lot of its own research and those studies typically are the ones that show off-gassing only occurs at higher temperatures/ with "improper use". Sadly, there have been reports (verified by academic sources -not just anecdotal) of birds being killed from temperatures throughout the 300 degree F range (much lower than the temperatures reported to cause hazards by DuPont). There is a very famous incident in which MU (University of Missouri) lost 1000 chicks as a result of heat lamps coated in PTFE (Teflon) and the bulbs never exceeded 396 F.

Age of the pan, acidity of the food, water content, oil content, cook-time etc can also all influence variations in off-gassing.

Click to expand...

Really sad to know that it couldve all been prevented

wrench13 said:

Same here. Good stainless ( Revereware) some Pyrex glass and 1 cast iron skillet is all we need.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Stainless, Pyrex, and cast iron will last forever and do everything you need. I also have some pampered chef stoneware. It’s $$$$$ but it was a gift and it’s great stuff.


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wrench13 said:

Same here. Good stainless ( Revereware) some Pyrex glass and 1 cast iron skillet is all we need.

Click to expand...

I use Revere-ware and the glass-handled pans that Pyrex used to make as well. Funny- you don't see the glass ones often.