Non-stick safety

[ZephyrFly]

I've been reading alot resently on non-stick pans and PTFE (teflon).
Currently I don't own a bird, though I would like to get a green cheek conure at the begining of the newyear (2015).

The bird will live in our (boyfriend and my's) livingroom, which is seperated by a door from our kitchen. The cage will be well away from that door and the over/hob/area where things get hot is also well away from that door. We've got an extractor fan but I know we have a few pans that are non-stick that are probably teflon/PPFE. Because it's a basement flat and the kitchen is basically the hallway that connects all the rooms, the windows are not in the kitchen. We can open windows in the connecting rooms (minus the livingroom) and that could help more as i'm a little concerned the kitchen has very little ventilation.

Would do you all think? Will we be ok? we don`t try to overheat the pans, we always cook with the extractor on, most of our pans i think are stainless steel but i'd bet money that our wok and our frying pan are probably PTFE non-stick.

note:bird will never be in the kitch when we cook. If we need to take him/her out somewhere we have to take her through the kitchen but nothing will be on and going.

 

[weco]

While the best scenario is to not use any PTFE/PFOA coated cookware period and throw them away, using your extractor turned on high and your pans on medium or low may be a workable combination.

If you are going to play Russian Roulette with PTFE/PFOA cookware, you would be very wise to purchase a non-contact, instant reading thermometer and using it faithfully, these thermometers are quite inexpensive.....http://www.amazon.com/Nubee®-Temper...9_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1411821336&sr=1-1 other brands are available.....

When reports of the dangers of heating PTFEs & PFOAs started being listened to, the temperature ranges hovered around 720° F (382.2° C) today, tests have reported offgassing at temperatures as low as 396° F (202.2° C).....you may want to read the info in this article before making your final decision about using PTFE/PFOA coated cookware THE DANGERS OF TEFLON PANS

 

[Kiwibird]

For right now it's fine since you don't have a bird yet, but I would suggest you strongly consider getting rid of those pans and replacing them with stainless or ceramic non-stick BEFORE you get a bird. I'm sure you have a family member or friend who don't have or ever want birds who would be happy to get your wok and frying pan

Especially since the food you cook in those 2 types of pans are often started off on high heats and high heat is what releases the fumes that are odorless and deadly (as weco said, that occurs around 400degrees). It only takes one time letting something burn for your bird to be exposed to fatal toxins. I would *personally* never take that risk over a pot or pan.

 

[NiRD]

Get a new cooking set. The safest place Teflon cook wear could be is the landfill.

 

[ZephyrFly]

Thanks for all the response, we're thinking about throwing the frying pan (though its brand new and we've used it maybe twice in 4 months, so it may just sit there) but the more I look at our wok the more I can't tell what its made of. It looks like Teflon but its too light weight? The outside of it looks steel but the inside looks like Teflon, but its light weight like stainless steel. Our wok before it thinking back was heavier and almost definitely Teflon but the new one is.... I don't know? Boyfriend bought it and scrapped the box before we were thinking about a bird.

 

[Endi]

I'd like to add onto this conversation, if I may, just so I don't have to clutter up the forum with more topics about this. Does it matter how old the non-stick cookware is? I'm probably going to get rid of my nonstick stuff anyway just to be safe but I was curious if its possible for the harsh chemicals to burn out from lots of use (sort of the same way a new hair straightener smells god awful until you use it a few times).

Also what's the story with ceramic cookware? I sometimes hear it's great but other times I hear it's awful. Is it a brand to brand thing?

 

[weco]

Sorry, but NO, the chemicals don't wear out or breakdown, however, if the pot or pan has been used & you see any flaking or scratching of the non-stick coating, you really should throw them away because that flaking coating is flaking off into the foods you cook in those pots & pans and thus, into you & those who eat the foods you've cooked.....

If you were brought up to be a frugal person, with PTFEs & PFOAs, your frugality is very misplaced.....this stuff is like DDT & then Mercury was back in the 50s & 60s, it ends up in everything, that pesticide almost singlehandedly caused the extinction of bald eagles, several species of owls and several species of raptors, while it was the best at what it did...killing bugs, and like Mercury, that poisoned a lot of fish species.....a couple of years ago they found out that some farm-raised fish are still showing Mercury contamination.....

Good luck.....

 

[MikeyTN]

I would ditch the non-stick pots and pans as well as the long term use of them isn't good for your health either although there isn't a specific study that specifies it at this moment. But it's thought to cause illnesses in humans as well. We tossed them all in the trash many years ago....

 

[ZephyrFly]

Well I think we are good to do just that. It was only because the pots and pans are the boyfriends that I was anxious about tossing them but he's absolutely fine with it. To the steel/whatever else we can find a wok made out of!

 

[Endi]

That's what I figured but I was still curious. I'll definitely be throwing out/giving away/banning non-stick cookware, then!

 

[veimar]

You can buy ceramic pans in Wal-Mart for under $10 a piece, so why risk? We have had a couple of those for over 6 mo now and they are great.

 

[Phlox]

You might want to check the brand though. All those coatings look that same, but there are some that are PTFE and PFOA free, but look like Teflon. If they are free of those, they usually tell you on the website of the manufacturer. That's why I have the pans I do.

 

[ZephyrFly]

Shame we can't tell with our wok (threw the packaging away ages ago and the pan doesn't say) but luckily it was cheap

 

[Tosca]

Many say if the pan becomes overheated then it emits toxic fumes. My experience with nonstick pans is that the instructions which come with the pans say to use no heat higher than medium. If you use a high heat, the coating over time is destroyed. I do not like nonstick pans because you cannot use high heat. So if you follow the manufacturer's instructions, doesn't that make them bird safe? I use stainless steel cookware because it is superior to nonstick IMO.

 

[weco]

Many say if the pan becomes overheated then it emits toxic fumes. My experience with nonstick pans is that the instructions which come with the pans say to use no heat higher than medium. If you use a high heat, the coating over time is destroyed. I do not like nonstick pans because you cannot use high heat. So if you follow the manufacturer's instructions, doesn't that make them bird safe? I use stainless steel cookware because it is superior to nonstick IMO.

The problem Teflon coatings and whatever other licensed coatings are being called is that the manufacturer's directions list a higher safe temperature than what subsequent studies/tests have determined that the offgassing begins at.....it is somewhere between low and medium heat that the dangerous fumes have been detected.....but.....next year all PTFE and PFOA coated pots & pans will no longer be available for sale.....

Just because some of the new pots & pans look like they have Teflon coatings, they don't...they just look similar.....and since this is a worldwide withdrawal of these chemicals from this type of use, I doubt any company would want to get caught selling anything coated with them.....not only would countries force them out of business, but I'm pretty sure the owners/managers would spend time in prison...too many countries involved.....

 

[veimar]

Just look for a label that says "PFTE and PFOA free". Then it's for sure.

 

[ZephyrFly]

Well I think our frying pan is to go but our wok is carbon steel, so that's nice (boyfriend got them from his work for cheap but they do other types of pan luckily).
Weco, is pfte being stopped? I hadn't heard about that but that would be kinda as some.

 

[weco]

Weco, is pfte being stopped? I hadn't heard about that but that would be kinda as some.

Probably not, what is going to be stopped is Teflon and all the DuPont licensed Teflon-like products that were manufactured by other companies and sold under various trade/brand names around the world.....what started out here in the states as an agreement with DuPont, the original patent holder, has become a global initiative, with many other countries involved.....

Your question is not really as simple as it sounds, so in order to properly answer your question, you have to understand what these various chemical compounds do, how they affect other things and how simply removing them period will probably never happen.....here are several links that may give you a better understanding and why your question does not have a simple yes or no answer:

Harmful Teflon Chemical To Be Eliminated by 2015


Teflon Update: It's Worse than We Thought - Cancer Defeated Newsletter #211


http://www.parrotforums.com/off-topic/48010-non-stick-pans.html


Enjoy your reading.....