When cooking in scratched Teflon pan, we can ingest 2.3 million microplastic particles

Teflon frying pan when scratched emits large amounts of particles of microplastic, scientists from the Australian University of Newcastle, whose work is published in the journal Science of The Total Environment.

According to the Daily Mail, many non-stick pans are covered with a layer of polytetrafluoroethylene, better known by the brand name Teflon. This material has a slippery surface and food hardly sticks to this surface when frying. At the same time, Teflon, like many other plastics, if ingested in large quantities in the form of microplastics can have harmful effects on humans. At the same time, manufacturers claim that the undamaged Teflon surface is safe for cooking, but categorically prohibit scratching or overheating it.

Scientists decided to find out how dangerous it is to scratch a Teflon pan. It turned out that a single five-centimeter scratch can release up to 2.3 million microplastic particles in a single cooking session. This was discovered using Raman spectroscopy. At the same time, microplastic particles in large quantities were also trapped on the food simulator, hence would have been eaten if real food had been cooked.

Once in the body, these particles are not eliminated for many years. Scientists do not yet have comprehensive data on the exact extent of harm from Teflon particles, but according to some reports, they can cause many chronic diseases.

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