Non Toxic Bakeware

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Non Toxic Bakeware – Non Toxic Cake Pans, Muffin Pans, Cookie Sheets

I really enjoy making cupcakes and cookies with my daughter during the holiday season. She gets really intrigued with the whole process of cooking including preparing and mixing ingredients, shaping the dough, decorating and sprinkling the cupcakes and cookies. Therefore, I decided to explore more baking things such as loaves, pies and cakes with her during this holiday season. I don’t usually bake things such as cakes or cookies so I don’t have many bakeware items such as cake pans or loaf pans. Therefore, I wanted to find some non toxic bakeware for this holiday season. Also I’ve been getting lots of inquiries about non toxic bakeware including non toxic cake pans, non toxic baking sheets, non toxic muffin pans lately. Therefore, I decided to research further to share non toxic bakeware with my readers as well as getting some bakeware for me to use with my daughter during this holiday season. In this post, I share with you what materials to avoid when getting bakeware and what non toxic bakeware is available.

What Materials To Avoid In Bakeware

Nonstick Coatings

When you bake things on a baking pan, baked goods can stick to the surface. Now this can be a problem when you try to preserve the shape of muffins or cakes. If they stick to the surface of the pan after being baked, they end up breaking when you try to take them out of the pan. Therefore, many bakeware have nonstick coatings. While nonstick coating provides nonstick properties and conveniences, they are made of harmful chemicals. A chemical coating commonly used for nonstick is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), known as Teflon. This synthetic chemical was made with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in the past. PFOA is classified as a possibly carcinogenic to humans by the IARC. It is also linked to negative health risks such as liver damage, thyroid disease and immune system problems. Consequently, PFOA are banned or phased out with some exemptions in many countries and products due to harmful risks to your health. Many nonstick cookware doesn’t use PFOA any more since 2015.

PFOA has been replaced with other chemicals such as GenX or PFBS. However, the replacement chemicals, GenX and PFBS are still harmful as PFOA according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). GenX has been shown to cause cancer in lab animals and cause many of the same health problems as PFOA. According to the EPA’s 2021 report, a safe daily dose of GenX is 3 ng/kg of body weight whereas a safe daily dose for the chemical the GenX replaces, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), is 20 ng/kg. PFOA has been linked to cancer in people and to the reduced effectiveness of childhood vaccines and other serious health problems at even the smallest doses according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The GenX chemical has even a lower safe daily dose limit than the harmful PFOA. PFBS is not as toxic as PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS and GenX but it can still have harmful effects on the thyroid and kidney, reproduction and development. Therefore, although some nonstick bakeware or cookware may claim the products are PFOA free but the replacement chemicals used for the nonstick coatings may still be as harmful.

When Teflon nonstick coating is in tact, it is considered to be safe. However, when a nonstick cookware is overheated, the nonstick coating starts to break down and releases toxic fumes. The toxic fumes can cause polymer fume fever and the fumes can actually kill birds. Teflon does not recommend cookware and bakeware in ovens hotter than 500 °F (260 °C). According to the Teflon, higher temperatures can discolor the surface of coating or cause it to lose some of its nonstick properties. Nonstick coatings can break down over time by being used in high heat especially for extended periods or too often. Nonstick coatings can also get damaged by being scratched with metal utensils. Being washed in the dishwasher may also damage the coating. When the nonstick coating gets disintegrated, degraded or damaged, you may be exposed to toxic chemicals such as GenX or PFBS. If the nonstick coatings wear down over time or get damaged, it is recommended to replace the the cookware or bakeware. However, it may be hard to spot when the nonstick coating is worn off with the naked eye.

Ceramic Coated Nonstick Bakeware

Ceramic coated bakeware may seem like a healthy, safe option since it is nonstick without any PFOA or PFOS chemicals. Examples of cookware that uses a ceramic nonstick coating are Greenpan or Farberware nonstick ceramic cookware. However, there are some questions that can be raised. Ceramic coated nonstick cookware is usually made of metal such as hard anodized aluminum coated with a nonstick layer of ceramic. What is concerning is that ceramic nonstick coating may contain nanoparticles. Thermolon, for example, is a nonstick coating found on Green Pans and is made with the sol-gel process which uses nanoparticles. However, there are some concerns with nano products that use nano technology. Some scientists are concerned that nanoparticles can enter our bodies through air or food and cause negative health implications. When the nonstick ceramic coating is in tact, the coating may not pose any threats. However, the nonstick ceramic coating can wear off easily with normal use making the pan’s coating thin and vulnerable to damage. When nonstick coating is thin, ceramic coating can easily be scratched and chipped by metal utensils. Once coating is chipped, cookware can release nanoparticles and aluminum into food. A 2016 study found that nanoparticles gets released when ceramic coated cookware has surface wear and damage from scratches or chipping. It may not be easy for people to notice the nonstick coating being worn off. Also, it may be easy for some people to damage the coating with utensils. Having a possibility of nanoparticles being released into food does not make me feel ceramic coated nonstick bakeware may be a good idea.

Silicone Bakeware

Silicone is considered to be inert, relatively non reactive. However, some studies suggest that silicone bakeware can leach into food. One study by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health concluded that up to 212°F (100°C), silicone elastomers can be considered as inert. Around 302 °F (150°C), silicone elastomers start to degrade. The total release of volatile substances was measured by simply weighing the moulds before and after the heating. The higher the temperature, the more weight loss occurred. Increasing the temperature accelerated the rate of the degradation process of the moulds. Also, even after 100 hrs of heating, substances continued to migrate. They concluded that silicone baking moulds are not inert enough for use in all the range of temperatures indicated by the manufacturers. Another study observed migration of siloxane from silicone moulds with different foods and concluded that a higher fat content of the food increased migration. The study found that migration of siloxane from silicone moulds were greater in meat loaf than milk-based desserts. Another study also concluded that meat loaf had a much higher amount of migration of siloxanes from silicone moulds than cake. There are limited studies available on how food reacts with silicone so more studies are needed. However, silicone may not be inert in some situations as these studies suggest. In general, silicone bakeware is heat-resistant up to 428 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius) and it may not be safe at very high temperatures or beyond the recommended temperatures. Also, some silicone bakeware is not made of 100% silicone and contain fillers or additives. These fillers and additives can cause odors during use of silicone bakeware or may also migrate into food. If consumers do not ensure that silicone bakeware is made of 100% silicone, they could end up getting silicone bakeware with harmful fillers or additives without knowing. With some of the concerns I listed, a silicone material may not be the confident choice for bakeware.

Non toxic bakeware materials of my choice is glass, stainless steel and cast iron without nonstick coatings.

Glass: Glass bakeware can be made with tempered soda-lime glass or borosilicate glass. Tempered soda-lime glass is stronger than the regular glass but it may break if it experiences sudden temperature changes. However, when it breaks, it breaks into small, circular pieces which is much safer than small sharp pieces. It is more resistant to impact breakage. Borosilicate glass has a high tolerance to heat and extreme resistance to severe temperature changes. Therefore, it is more thermal shock resistant than soda lime glass. It can handle sudden temperature changes from freezer to oven without cracking. However, when it breaks, it shatters into small jagged shards which can cause injury. Borosilicate glass is also more expensive to produce than tempered soda lime glass.

I prefer the borosilicate glass for bakeware since I sometimes bake frozen meat on a bakeware and sometimes I want to use the bakeware when it is still hot (when needing to bake something else right after baking something). However, if you never use the bakeware with the temperature change from cold to hot temperature (or vise versa), whether the glass is borosilicate glass or not may not matter. However, if you would like the bakeware to withstand extreme temperature changes without cracking or shattering, borosilicate glass may be the better choice for you.

Stainless Steel: Stainless steel is non toxic overall. However, if you cook acidic food in stainless steel for a long duration, stainless steel cookware may release iron, chromium or nickel at very low levels. This is considered not a health concern to most people and stainless steel material should be safe. However, if you have iron, chromium related health problems, you may consult with the doctor first. Also, some people may be allergic to nickel. Therefore, if you are allergic to nickel, 18/0 stainless steel cookware which has no nickel may be a better choice.

Cast Iron: Cast iron is naturally nonstick without nonstick coatings. However, I have seen some cast iron bakeware with nonstick coatings. Therefore, you may want to check that cast iron you are getting does not have any nonstick coating.

Non Toxic Cake Pans

Simax Clear Glass Fluted Bundt Cake Pan – Non Toxic Cake Pan

Non Toxic Cake Pans – Simax Clear Glass Fluted Bundt Cake Pan

Bake a gorgeous cake with this bundt pan!

Material: Borosilicate Glass (heat and cold proof with a high thermal shock resistance)

Cadmium and lead free

Size: 10-inches in diameter and 5-inches deep

Shape: Round

Temperature: Bundt pan can withstand temperatures between 572° and -40° Fahrenheit (300°/-40° Celsius)

Dishwasher Safe: Yes, also oven, freezer, microwave safe

More info

Simax Clear Glass Shallow (4.75”) Bundt Pan – Non Toxic Cake Pan

Non Toxic Cake Pans – Simax Clear Glass Shallow (4.75”) Bundt Pan