Your cookware is a food contact surface.
Every time you cook, whatever your pan is made of is in direct contact with your food. It responds to heat, reacts to acids, and in some cases, contributes trace amounts of itself to what ends up on your plate. That's not a scare tactic. It's just chemistry. Once you understand it, choosing a pan becomes less about the shiny pan vs. the heavy one and a lot more interesting.
This article is about making that choice with real information. Not marketing language, not fear, and not the kind of oversimplification that leaves you more anxious than informed. It is a lot, so bookmark this page and use the buttons below to navigate directly to materials whenever you need a refresh.
✔ Recommended: | 🚫 Not Recommended: | |
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Before we get into materials, here's the most important thing to understand:
Everything leaches.
Every cookware material interacts with food to some degree. Cast iron, stainless steel, copper, aluminum, ceramic — all of them. The question is not whether a material has any interaction with your food. That answer is always yes.
The questions to ask are:
What is transferring?
How much?
Does that amount actually matter?
Those three questions are the whole picture, they determine if that material is potentially toxic or not. And the answers depend almost entirely on variables that show up again and again no matter what material you're looking at.
Acidity.
Acidic foods — tomatoes, citrus, vinegar, wine — are the great accelerators. They pull metals off surfaces faster than almost anything else. A pan that behaves perfectly with water may behave very differently with a long-simmered tomato sauce.
Heat and time.
A quick sauté and an all-day braise are not the same event, chemically speaking. Leaching increases with both temperature and duration. That doesn’t mean a slow-cooked meal is dooming your cookware. It’s just an opportunity to make an informed selection on which tool to use. This is a good reason to consider different types of pots and pans, so you can select what works best for what you’re cooking.
A grain of salt:
The dramatic numbers you sometimes see in cookware research often come from studies where an acidic sauce was cooked for extended hours continuously. Realistic cooking metrics matter; laboratory conditions matter too, but they're not always the same thing.
Condition of the pan.
The material matters, but so does what it’s been through. New pans almost universally leach more than well-seasoned or broken-in ones. Meanwhile, significant wear such as a scratched nonstick coating, a chipped enamel surface, or a thinned out tin lining can make cookware genuinely worrisome. Condition changes everything.
Keep these three variables in mind. They'll come up in every section that follows, and they're the reason that most cookware questions don't have simple yes-or-no answers.
A note on who this matters most for:
For most people cooking normal meals at home, the risks from cookware materials are low and manageable. But some of what follows matters more for specific groups (e.g. people with iron overload conditions, nickel sensitivity, kidney disease, or who are pregnant).
Where that's the case, we'll flag it clearly. General population risk and specific population risk are different conversations, and we'll treat them that way. This is not medical advice, if you have health concerns please speak with your practitioner.
How we built this list.
The materials in the recommended section earned their place because normal cooking doses are safe for most people and their well-tested performance is real. The materials in the "Not on Our List" section didn't make it for reasons we'll explain honestly — not to alarm you, but because you came here for straight answers and that's what we're going to give you.
RECOMMENDED MATERIALS
✔ Cast Iron
If cookware had a hall of fame, cast iron would be in the first class of inductees. It has been used for cooking across cultures for centuries — from West African hearths to Chinese kitchens to American chuck wagons. That kind of track record doesn't happen by accident.
Cast iron is made from iron with a carbon content of roughly 2 - 4%. Traditionally poured into molds and cooled slowly into a dense, thick cooking surface. It holds heat exceptionally well, works on any heat source from campfire to induction, and goes from stovetop to oven without complaint. With proper care, it lasts long enough to be passed down through generations. Some of the best cast iron pans in use today are older than their owners' grandparents.
⚠ The safety picture
What leaches from cast iron is iron — the same mineral your body needs to make hemoglobin, carry oxygen through your blood, and keep your energy levels from collapsing. It is not a toxin. It is a nutrient, and a welcomed one for most people.
The same variables apply here as they do everywhere: acidity, heat, time, and condition of the pan all influence how much iron transfers into food. Acidic dishes cooked for longer periods in a newer, less seasoned pan will show the most transfer. A well-seasoned pan cooking a quick weeknight dinner will show very little.
Whether or not that transferred iron makes a meaningful nutritional difference has been studied:
A landmark randomized controlled trial published in The Lancet found that children who ate food cooked in iron pots showed improvements in iron levels compared to those eating the same food cooked in aluminum pots (Adish et al., 1999).
A more recent systematic review found statistically significant increases in hemoglobin levels and reductions in anemia prevalence associated with iron cookware use. They recommended it as a cost-effective, sustainable strategy — particularly for populations where iron deficiency is common (Alves et al., 2019).
An earlier review on the same subject was more cautious, noting that the clinical evidence was limited and variable, calling for more high-quality research (Geerligs et al., 2003).
That research has continued to accumulate, and the picture has gotten clearer over time, though cast iron cookware use is still not a prescription.
The honest takeaway: cooking in cast iron is one of the few cases where your cookware may quietly work in your favor nutritionally. It is not a treatment for iron deficiency, but it is not working against you either.
⚑ Red Flag: People with hemochromatosis or other iron overload conditions should avoid cast iron cookware. For this group, additional dietary iron — even from a pan — is not welcome.
✔ Carbon Steel
What carbon steel brings to the kitchen is a different kind of mastery. Because it's thinner, carbon steel is lighter and responds to heat changes faster. It heats up quickly and cools down quickly, which makes it the preferred tool for techniques that require precise heat control.
The chemistry is nearly identical: iron plus carbon. The difference is in the carbon content — which runs around 1% in carbon steel — and in how it's made. Carbon steel is rolled rather than cast, which produces a thinner, lighter, smoother pan. A twelve-inch cast iron skillet might weigh 8 pounds (128oz.), but a comparable carbon steel pan comes in closer to half that weight. That difference matters when you're moving a hot pan from burner to oven and back, or when flipping food with one hand.
It is the pan that professional cooks reach for when technique matters most: the omelet station, the fish sauté, the quick sear where a few seconds of heat difference changes the outcome. De Buyer has been making carbon steel cookware in France since 1830. The woks that anchor Chinese restaurant kitchens worldwide are almost universally carbon steel. This is not a new material looking for validation — it has centuries of professional endorsement behind it.
⚠ The safety picture
The safety profile of carbon steel is essentially the same as cast iron. What leaches is iron. The same three variables apply. The same hemochromatosis caveat applies. The seasoning process is the same in principle, though carbon steel's smoother surface can make it slightly easier to build and maintain.
Carbon steel is induction compatible, oven safe, and built to last decades with proper care. If cast iron feels too heavy for your cooking style, carbon steel is not a compromise, it is a different tool with its own considerable strengths. They are complementary options, and a kitchen with both is a well-equipped one.
⚑ Red Flag: Same as cast iron — people with iron overload conditions should avoid regular use of carbon steel cookware.
✔ Stainless Steel
Stainless steel is probably already in your kitchen — it's in most kitchens. For the vast majority of people cooking normal meals, it performs well and the safety profile is acceptable, with a few honest caveats worth knowing.
Stainless steel is an alloy: primarily iron, with chromium added at a minimum of about 10.5% to create corrosion resistance, and usually nickel for additional durability and shine. The grades you'll see on quality cookware — 18/8 and 18/10 — refer to the percentages of chromium and nickel respectively. Higher quality grades generally mean better corrosion resistance and more stable performance over time.
⚠ The safety picture
Stainless steel does leach nickel and chromium into food, and this is documented in peer-reviewed research. A study from Oregon State University's Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology found that stainless steel cookware is an overlooked source of both metals, with leaching dependent on the grade of steel, cooking time, and how many times the pan has been used (Kamerud et al., 2013).
Here is where the three variables become especially important to understand. That same study found that after six hours of cooking tomato sauce, nickel concentrations increased up to twenty-six times and chromium up to seven times — numbers that can reasonably set off alarm bells. After twenty hours, the increases were even more dramatic. But six to twenty hours of continuous acidic cooking is not a typical dinner; It is a laboratory stress test. At normal cooking durations, the amounts that transfer are low, and for most people they fall well within ranges that the body handles without issue.
The chromium that leaches from stainless steel comes off in its trivalent form — the less toxic form, and the same form that functions as an essential trace mineral in the body, but still worth being aware of.
Practical guidance: avoid using stainless for long, slow, acidic dishes if you can route those to cast iron or enameled cast iron instead. Newer pans leach more than broken-in ones, and grade matters — buy the best quality you can, and look for 18/8 or 18/10 markings.
⚑ Red Flag: Nickel allergy is more common than most people realize. Research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology puts the pooled general population prevalence at approximately 11%, with a significant gender disparity: roughly 10% - 15% of adult women and 1% - 3% of adult men are affected (Alinaghi et al., 2019).
For people with nickel sensitivity, stainless steel cookware can be a meaningful dietary source of nickel exposure. If you have a known nickel allergy or experience unexplained skin reactions, this is worth discussing with your doctor and may influence your cookware choices.
✔ Hard-Anodized Aluminum
Standard aluminum cookware doesn't make this list. Hard-anodized aluminum does, and the difference is significant enough to explain properly.
Anodization is an electrochemical process that converts the surface of aluminum into aluminum oxide — a compound that is dramatically harder, thicker, and less reactive than the raw aluminum beneath it. Hard-anodized aluminum undergoes this process at higher current levels than standard anodization, producing a surface that is denser and more durable. That aluminum oxide layer is non-porous and does not leach aluminum into food under normal cooking conditions.
⚠ The safety picture
The keys are under normal cooking conditions and when the surface is intact. Hard-anodized aluminum earns its place on the recommended list with a condition attached: if the anodized layer is deeply scratched or significantly worn away, the raw aluminum substrate may be exposed and no longer safe. The integrity of the surface is everything.
This is not a reason to avoid it, just a reason to treat it well. Use wooden, silicone, or plastic utensils. Avoid abrasive cleaners. Replace it when the surface is visibly compromised rather than cooking on a pan that has lost its protective layer.
Hard-anodized aluminum is a practical, affordable, legitimate option. It is not as storied as cast iron or as thermally spectacular as copper, but it does its job cleanly and safely when maintained.
✔ Enameled Cast Iron
Enameled cast iron offers something the other materials on this list don't: a completely non-reactive cooking surface that requires no seasoning, handles acidic foods without concern, and comes in colors that make you want to leave it on the stove permanently. The cast iron core gives you all the heat retention benefits; the enamel coating — a glass-based glaze fused to the surface at very high temperatures — does the rest.
⚠ The safety picture
The cast iron underneath is not the concern here. The enamel glaze is where the conversation gets more nuanced.
Historically, certain pigments used to create enamel colors — particularly the vivid reds, oranges, and yellows — contained cadmium and lead compounds. Reputable modern manufacturers have moved away from these formulations, and pieces made by established European and American brands are held to stricter regulatory standards than many other imports.
But the risk has not disappeared entirely, and it concentrates in a few specific situations: vintage pieces, heavily discounted imported cookware, and certain colors and manufacturers more than others (based on independent consumer testing using XRF analysis - see note).
A Grain of Salt:
Consumer advocates and independent researchers have used handheld XRF devices to test enamel cookware from various brands.
This testing is not peer-reviewed or standardized, and it cannot be treated as clinical evidence. It is, however, the best consumer-accessible data currently available on a question that some manufacturers have not been particularly transparent about.
⚑ Red Flag: Do not use vintage enameled cast iron for cooking. Do not cook in pieces with chipped enamel: once the surface is compromised, the protection it offers is gone. Buy from reputable manufacturers who can show their compliance with lead and cadmium standards, and favor lighter interior colors over vividly pigmented ones.
✔ Lined Copper
Copper is the thermal overachiever of the cookware world. It conducts heat better than any other common cookware material — roughly five times better than cast iron — and it responds to temperature changes almost instantly. It is why copper has been the preferred material of serious cooks and professional kitchens for centuries, and why it remains the choice for technique-driven cooking where precise heat control is everything.
Unlined copper, however, is not up for consideration. Copper is reactive with acidic foods and can leach into them in amounts that cause acute copper toxicity. Unlined copper pans are beautiful, but they belong on walls, not over flames with a sauce in them.
Lined copper is a different story. The lining — traditionally tin, but increasingly common in stainless steel — acts as a barrier between the copper and your food. When the lining is intact, the copper performs and the lining protects.
⚠ The safety picture
Tin linings are traditional and effective, but they are softer than the copper they coat. They wear over time, and when they wear thin enough to expose the copper beneath, the pan needs to be re-tinned before it's safe to use for cooking again. Research on tin-lined copper cookware found that metal migration into food increases with cooking time and acidity even through an intact tin lining, though levels under normal cooking conditions remained within ranges considered acceptable (Banavi et al., 2020). This is worth knowing, not worth panicking about — but it does reinforce the importance of inspecting your lining regularly.
Stainless steel linings are more durable and never need re-tinning. Some argue they slightly reduce the thermal advantage of copper at the cooking surface, but for most practical purposes the difference is minor.
Lined copper is a niche recommendation — genuinely excellent, genuinely high-maintenance, and genuinely expensive. If you love to cook and want the best heat control money can buy, it earns its place. If you want a more practical everyday kitchen material, cast iron and carbon steel will serve you better.
⚑ Yellow Flag: Inspect the lining of any lined copper piece regularly, especially around the sides and base where a utensil may scrape and wear tends to concentrate first. Re-tin when the lining is compromised.
✔ Glass and Uncoated Stoneware
These materials don't get much attention in cookware conversations, but they deserve a mention because they are among the most chemically inert options available.
Glass cookware and uncoated stoneware or ceramic (pieces made without a painted or pigmented glaze on the cooking surface) do not leach metals under normal cooking conditions. They are genuinely non-reactive. Acidic foods, long cooking times, high temperatures — none of the variables that drive leaching in metal cookware apply here in the same way.
The practical trade-off is thermal performance. Glass and stoneware conduct heat poorly compared to metals. They are not suitable for stovetop cooking in most cases, they don't sear, and they heat unevenly if used in direct flame applications.
Glass and uncoated stoneware are about as close to neutral as cookware gets. Where they shine is in the oven — baking dishes, casseroles, slow braises — anything where even, gentle, retained heat is the goal and you want a completely non-reactive vessel.
⚠ The safety picture
One caveat applies, and it mirrors the enameled cast iron concern: pieces with painted or pigmented glazes carry the same potential lead and cadmium risk as any vibrantly colored enamel surface. Uncoated stoneware and clear or lightly tinted glass don't have this issue, but heavily decorated vintage pieces and imported ceramics may.
The same guidance applies: buy from reputable modern manufacturers, avoid vintage for cooking, and be cautious with pieces that have brightly pigmented decorative glazes on or near the cooking surface.
✔ Silicone
Silicone bakeware and utensils have become a fixture in nontoxic kitchen conversations, and for reasonable cause. Food-grade silicone is a synthetic polymer made from silicon — a naturally occurring element — bonded with oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen.
It is flexible, heat-resistant, non-reactive, and doesn't rust, warp, or absorb odors. As a kitchen material, it has genuine advantages.
⚠ The safety picture
Food-grade silicone is considered non-toxic and is FDA-approved for food contact. It does not leach BPA, heavy metals, or the fluoropolymer compounds associated with PTFE. Under normal cooking conditions it is stable and inert, which is why it earns a recommend status on our list.
The honest caveats: not all silicone products are equal. Lower-quality silicone — particularly heavily pigmented or inexpensive imported pieces — may contain fillers that compromise the material's stability and introduce unknown variables.
High heat is also worth mentioning. Food-grade silicone is generally rated safe up to around 400-450°F, depending on the manufacturer. Most baking applications fall well within that range. Extended exposure above those temperatures is where stability becomes less certain and where buying from reputable manufacturers with clear safety certifications matters more.
Silicone is not a stovetop material. It earns its place here primarily as bakeware and kitchen tools: utensils, molds, trivets, baking mats, etc.
⚑ Yellow Flag: You may have seen the advice to do the “pinch test” to check the quality of silicone. It circulates widely in blogs, media, and nontoxic communities. Just pinch and twist silicone firmly — if white shows through the color, fillers are present. The logic is reasonable. Common fillers like calcium carbonate stretch under tension, causing the white discoloration.
However, it has not been validated by peer-reviewed research as a reliable detection method. Treat it as a community heuristic, not a lab result. When in doubt, buy from manufacturers with clear food-grade certifications and transparent ingredient disclosure rather than relying solely on a home test.
NOT ON OUR RECOMMENDED LIST
🚫 PTFE / Teflon Nonstick
Let's talk about what nonstick actually is.
The coating on a conventional nonstick pan is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), trademarked as Teflon. It is a synthetic fluoropolymer, meaning it is a long chain of carbon and fluorine atoms bonded together in a configuration that is extremely stable under normal conditions – and extremely slippery by nature.
That's what makes eggs slide around. That's also what makes the safety conversation complicated.
Under normal cooking temperatures, PTFE is largely inert. The problem begins when temperatures climb above approximately 500°F — something that can happen faster than most people expect on a preheating burner with nothing in the pan.
At those temperatures, PTFE begins to break down. It releases ultrafine particles and gases including highly toxic decomposition products. Research has documented that:
These pyrolysis products cause acute lung injury, hemorrhagic pulmonary edema, and inflammation in animal studies (Johnston et al., 1995).
The clinical presentation in humans — known as polymer fume fever — includes flu-like symptoms, chest tightness, and respiratory distress (Shusterman, 1993).
The thermal degradation of PTFE also produces trifluoroacetic acid and other persistent fluorinated compounds with environmental and biological implications (Ellis et al., 2001).
The bird canary-in-the-coal-mine parallel here is not metaphorical. Pet birds have died from PTFE fumes released by overheated nonstick pans and HVAC systems with coated components.
Their respiratory systems are more sensitive than ours, which makes them early indicators of what the chemistry is doing.
Then there is the PFOA question. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was used in the manufacturing process for PTFE for decades and is a persistent environmental contaminant with serious health implications. It has been largely phased out of production under regulatory pressure, but "PFOA-free" labeling, which now appears on virtually all nonstick cookware, means only that this one compound was removed from the manufacturing process. The replacement fluoropolymers and processing aids are less studied, and their long-term safety profile has not been established to the same degree. The absence of one known problem is not the same as the presence of confirmed safety.
Finally, nonstick coatings have a finite lifespan. They scratch, they chip, they degrade — and a degraded coating means a compromised barrier over an aluminum substrate that now has direct food contact.
PTFE nonstick doesn't make this list because its safety depends on an intact chemical coating that degrades over time, its risk profile increases meaningfully with heat and wear, and better options exist.
🚫 Ceramic-Coated Nonstick
Ceramic-coated nonstick cookware has positioned itself as the responsible alternative to PTFE — natural, green, free of the fluoropolymer concerns. The marketing is compelling. The reality is more complicated.
Ceramic coatings are not ceramic in the traditional sense. They are sol-gel coatings — silica-based surfaces applied through a chemical process that produces a hard, smooth finish. They contain no PTFE or PFOA, which is genuinely a point in their favor. Free of PTFE is not the same as thoroughly studied and confirmed safe, however. The broader category of ceramic nonstick coatings has significantly less research behind it than PTFE does.
The more practical problem is durability. Ceramic coatings degrade faster than PTFE — often noticeably within one to two years of regular use. As the coating wears, the aluminum substrate beneath it is progressively exposed. The "natural" pan becomes a raw aluminum pan faster than most buyers expect, and at that point the protective benefit the coating was providing is gone.
There is also the question of what's in the coating itself. Some ceramic-coated cookware, particularly lower-quality and imported products, has shown heavy metal leaching in testing. This is not universal across the category, but it is not well-regulated either, and the consumer has limited tools to distinguish between products.
Ceramic-coated cookware is not recommended here not because it is proven dangerous, but because the evidence base for its long-term safety is thin, its durability is poor, and the “natural” marketing tends to create a false sense of security that the science does not yet support.
🚫 Raw Uncoated Aluminum
Raw aluminum cookware is everywhere — inexpensive, lightweight, conducts heat well, and used in both commercial and home kitchens worldwide. Its prevalence makes it worth addressing carefully, because the safety conversation around aluminum is one where context matters enormously.
The most alarming leaching data associated with aluminum cookware comes primarily from research conducted on cookware manufactured in developing countries from recycled scrap metal — including computer components, electrical wiring, and industrial waste — contaminated with lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals (Ali Sultan et al., 2023). That contamination is a manufacturing and regulation problem, not an inherent property of aluminum as a material. It is an important distinction to keep in mind, but not enough to dismiss toxicity concerns.
Raw aluminum itself is reactive. It reacts with both acidic foods and alkaline foods, especially with heat over time. Regular use of reactive raw aluminum cookware can contribute meaningfully toward the established safe exposure limit, and for people with impaired kidney function or who cannot otherwise clear aluminum efficiently, even lower-level exposure carries more risk.
The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives established a Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake for aluminum of 2 mg per kilogram of body weight. (WHO Technical Report Series No. 966, 2011)
The non-recommended stance comes from a simple reasoning: there is no strong safety case for raw uncoated aluminum as a home cooking choice when better options exist at comparable price points.
🚫 Unlined Copper
Beautiful. Keep it on display only.
PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS
✔ Best choices for most kitchens:
⬥Cast Iron
⬥Carbon Steel
⬥Stainless Steel (quality grade)
⬥Hard-anodized Aluminum
⬥Enameled Cast Iron (from reputable manufacturers)
✔ Specialty or situational:
⬥Lined copper (excellent for the committed cook who will maintain it)
⬥Glass and uncoated stoneware (ideal for oven use and acidic foods)
⬥Food-grade silicone for bakeware and pan-friendly, dishwasher-safe utensils
⚠ Replace when worn:
⬦Enameled Cast Iron with chipped surfaces
⬦Lined Copper with worn lining
⬦Any pan where a protective surface is visibly compromised
🚫 Not recommended:
⬦PTFE Nonstick
⬦Ceramic-coated Nonstick
⬦Raw Uncoated Aluminum
⬦Unlined Copper
If you had to pick one pan:
Cast iron or carbon steel will do everything you need.
They perform across almost every cooking task, their safety profile is the most straightforward on this list, they get better with age rather than worse, and they will outlast everything else in your kitchen when cared for.
The condition principle:
A well-maintained pan in a lower-tier material will often outperform a neglected pan in a premium one. Inspect your cookware regularly. Replace what's worn. Don't cook on a compromised surface because replacing it feels wasteful – that cookware has completed its life cycle.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
If you have a kitchen full of stainless steel and one cast iron skillet, you are not in danger. If you have a nonstick pan you use occasionally at moderate heat and are careful with, the world is not ending. This article is all about empowering you to move toward better choices over time, not throwing out everything you own tomorrow.
Pay attention to material condition. Maintain what you have. Buy better when you replace.
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Learn. Apply. Thrive.
RESEARCH SOURCES:
Adish, A. A., Esrey, S. A., Gyorkos, T. W., Jean-Baptiste, J., & Rojhani, A. (1999). Effect of consumption of food cooked in iron pots on iron status and growth of young children: a randomised trial. The Lancet, 353(9154), 712–716.
Alinaghi, F., et al. (2019). Prevalence of contact allergy in the general population: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 80(3), 777–785.
Ali Sultan, S. A., Ahmed Khan, F., Wahab, A., Fatima, B., Khalid, H., Bahader, A., Safi, S. Z., Selvaraj, C., Ali, A., Alomar, S. Y., & Imran, M. (2023). Assessing leaching of potentially hazardous elements from cookware during cooking: A serious public health concern. Toxics, 11(7), 640.
Alves, C., et al. (2019). Use of iron cookware for prevention and treatment of iron deficiency anemia: a systematic review. Nutrición Hospitalaria, 36(6), 1383–1393.
Banavi, P., Sadeghi, E., Garavand, F., Heydari, M., & Rouhi, M. (2020). Release behavior of metals from tin-lined copper cookware into food simulants during cooking and cold storage. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 38591–38601.
DeKoven, J. G., et al. (2018). North American Contact Dermatitis Group patch test results: 2015–2016. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 79(6), 1012–1025.
Ellis, D. A., et al. (2001). Thermolysis of fluorinated polymers. Nature, 412(6844), 321–324.
Geerligs, P. D., Brabin, B. J., & Albonico, M. (2003). Use of iron pots for reducing iron-deficiency anaemia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (3), CD003554.
Johnston, C. J., et al. (1995). Pulmonary toxicity of size-fractionated PTFE combustion fumes. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 131(2), 273–281.
Kamerud, K. L., Hobbie, K. A., & Anderson, K. A. (2013). Stainless steel leaches nickel and chromium into foods during cooking. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 61(39), 9495–9501.
Kuligowski, J., & Halperin, K. M. (1992). Stainless steel cookware as a significant source of nickel, chromium, and iron. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 23(2), 211–215.
Shusterman, D. (1993). Polymer fume fever and other health effects associated with the pyrolysis of fluorocarbon resins. Occupational Medicine, 8(3), 519–531.
World Health Organization. (2011). Evaluation of certain food additives and contaminants: seventy-fourth report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. WHO Technical Report Series, No. 966. Geneva: World Health Organization. (pp. 8–15).