Warning issued to households cooking with non-stick pans

They're one of the marvels of modern cooking and for a while everyone was raving about non-stick pans first popularised by Teflon but now widely available from a range of brands.

Some people have concerns about non-stick saucepans in your kitchen - but are they really capable of affecting your health, and should you be wary of using them?

Certain concerns have flagged in the past that non stick pans can be dangerous for pets because the fumes they give off can actually be harmful to birds in particular.

The Guardian reported: "What has been reported from Teflon use is a risk of fumes from overheating pans, giving people temporary flu-like symptoms and sickness - known as polymer-fume fever. These fumes do not contain any PFOA and are mostly noxious to pet birds, so if you have a budgie or parrot, then ventilate your kitchen and don't overheat your non-stick pans."

This is backed up by Serious Eats, which explains how although they are probably safe on the whole, non stick pans could potentially pose risks in some cases.

It says: "There are lingering questions about what effects nonstick chemicals have on our health and that of the environment. I won't dwell on those for long, though they are a concern. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the fluoropolymer used to create Teflon coatings, and some of the chemicals used to manufacture it, have been linked with certain types of cancer, infertility, and other negative health outcomes. Some of them also persist indefinitely in the environment."

"It's probably safe to say that nonstick coatings have improved over time and are less risky than they used to be, though one should not assume all dangers have been eradicated."

But although the risks aren't considered to be huge, another issue is that they don't tend to cook food well anyway.

It adds: "Beyond those health questions, the main point I want to make is that nonstick cookware is rarely your best choice from a culinary perspective. Most of the time, your food will come out better if you don't cook it in a nonstick pan.

Why is that? Because sticking isn't inherently bad. Often, it's exactly what we want, at least to a limited degree. Food that fuses to a pan and won't budge is a problem, but food that sticks just enough is often a good thing."