[Rumors] Is PTFE harmful?

The chemical name of PTFE is "polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)", which is a resin containing fluorine with excellent mechanical properties and high temperature resistance.

Since PTFE has a dense structure and smooth surface after plating, it can achieve the effect of non-stick pan after it is made into a coating.

Therefore, most of the rice cookers and the inner pot of the rice cooker and the inside of the non-stick pan are coated with PTFE. This coating keeps the bottom of these pots and pans cooking while cooking, making food easy to remove and easy to clean.

At the same time, PTFE has high safety performance and is relatively stable in environments below 260 °C.

The smoke point of peanut oil and soybean oil is around 160°C, and even palm oil with high temperature resistance has a smoke point of only 230°C. In daily cooking, it is not recommended to cook after the oil smokes, because the oil will decompose after smoking and form complex compounds, which are not good for health.

As long as the oil is "not empty" or the pot is dry, it is difficult for the temperature in the pot to reach 260°C. In other words, normal cooking temperature will not cause Teflon to decompose. The so-called "rice cooker or non-stick pan causes cancer" is untenable, and consumers can use it with confidence.

In addition, there is a saying on the Internet that "perfluorooctanoic acid in non-stick pans is the culprit of cancer." What's going on here?

It turns out that the International Agency for Cancer (IARC) does list PFOA as a Group 2B carcinogen, but as a widely used industrial raw material, PFOA is particularly important for the production of fluoropolymers, which are widely used in industry and consumer products, including production It is used in non-stick coatings on pans and waterproof clothing.

However, the use of PFOA does not mean the presence of PFOA residues in the final product.

In the production of non-stick pans, the coating raw materials must be dissolved and then applied to the surface of the pan. The traditional solvent used is perfluorooctanoic acid. The pan is baked after the coating is applied, and ideally the PFOA will volatilize due to the heat. That is to say, a qualified non-stick pan will not have PFOA residues.

At the same time, in response to the safety of PFOA, my country organized a large-scale survey in 2004, sampling 265 kinds of non-stick pans produced by 15 enterprises in 5 provinces and cities including Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Shanghai, and no PFOA residue was detected.

What's more reassuring is that this substance is no longer used in non-stick pan coatings that have been on the market since 2012, so consumers can use non-stick pans with confidence.