Non-stick pans are a total kitchen essential – who has time to aggressively scrub the remnants of scrambled eggs off of a plain old pan?
However, you’ve no doubt met a non-stick sceptic at some point who claims the slick surfaced pans are bad for your health.
Well... it turns out they’re not entirely wrong.
According to Delish, there are a whole whack of studies out there that have found that the presence of polyfluoroalkyl substances (known as PFAS) used in older nonstick pans have links to cancer.
And in even worse news, apparently there’s an even higher level of PFAS when your old non-stick pans are scratched to heck.
An Australian study — which used light-waves to measure microscopic particles — found just that one wee scratch on a non-stick pan released a huge amount of tiny toxins.
But before you panic bin every pan you own, PFAS have been prohibited in non-stick cookware since 2013.
So the likelihood is that your non-stick pan is probably safe however, if you’re using a hand-me-down it might be time to toss it in the bin.
Even if your pan is newer, if it’s scratched, it’s time to get rid. Do you really want little flakes of non-stick coating on your crepes? Probably not.
And even if it seems in relatively good nick, non-stick pans are only meant to last one to two years (yes, really) if you cook with it frequently. Have a really good think – how long ago did you buy that frying pan? Our guess is it’s been A WHILE.