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Maybe you have just recently realized that some of the bakeware pieces you use may not be safe and you started to search for better options, or you are missing a bakeware in your kitchen and you wanted to search for the options that won’t concern your health.
Whatever the reason was to start this search about safe bakeware, you probably get the impression that it is really hard to find out what is safe. Moreover, it may seem that every cookware/bakeware rise some health concerns. These are the same filing I had when I was starting to learn about the potential health risks behind the everyday cookware we use.
I came from a scientific background, and I spent the last few years understanding personally driven questions bout cookware safety, and driving clear conclusions about the health effects of cookware was not always easy.
However, in this post, I will summarize my knowledge and conclusions from several in-depth articles I wrote about the safety of different bakeware/cookware types so you can have a clearer idea of what to search for. Moreover, I will provide references to remarkable scientific publications and my articles where you can find support for what I will outline in this post.
In any case let’s start by shortly answering the main question, while the rest of the article will provide you with more details. What is the safest bakeware?
As a general rule, cookware types such as borosilicate glass, pyroceramics, non-glazed ceramics, and stainless steel are considered the safest bakeware options. This is especially true for the bakeware pieces produced by reputable manufacturers deriving from the EU, where cookware safety regulations are one of the highest in the world. On the opposite, bakeware from nonstick materials, silicone or aluminium should be used with caution since high temperatures and certain ingredients may increase the potentially harmful effect on health derived from using such cookware
Importantly, keep tee idea that nothing is black and white, and the same is true for the safety of different bakeware types in general. Even if some bakeware types can be considered safer than others in general, it is very important to consider from which material it is exactly made, which safety certification it has and under which baking conditions it is used.
In the first part of the post, I will present some bakeware types that trigger fewer concerns about health in general with supporting references. Moreover, I will provide an idea about a few companies within each bakeware type that have transparent safety certification and/or are selling their products on markets that require strong safety certification of cookware(Like the EU). This way you may have a better direction for your further search for safe bakeware.
Finally, in the second part of the post, I will give you an inside into what cookware in general triggers higher health risks and some cooking practices that particularly present a risk for health when sued with this cookware(referenced by scientific studies).
In case you are in a hurry Int the table below I have summarized the main points about the safety of different bakeware types, their most common uses as bakeware and a few links brands with strong safety certification of their cookware.
Bakeware types recognised as safer in general
1.Xtrema (Safety certificate)
2.Miriams Earthen cookware (Safety certificate)
3.Romertopf (Safety certificate provided from direct communication with Rometopf in my post here)
4.E-Far
5.Team-Far
Bakeware types recognised as less safe in general
1. What is the best bakeware type?
1.1. Is (pure) Ceramic bakeware safe?
To understand that better, let’s shortly pass through what pure ceramic cookware is made of at all, since some common confusions exist about it.
Pure ceramic cookware is made from clay, a constitutive part of most soils, and it is comprised of earth minerals such as silicon and aluminium oxides(1). When it is thermally treated some of the clay minerals become vitrified (forms a glass structure) which finally forms the ceramics (Find more about different ceramic types and how they differ in my in-depth post here).
So, you may say. Alright, since pure ceramic is derived from common earth minerals with which we are surrounded, such cookware must be perfectly safe. The answer unfortunately is “Not always!”.
Pure ceramics is commonly glazed with glassy layers of silica that sometimes have the addition of heavy minerals in order to reduce the temperatures used for melting the glazes during their application to ceramics and thus reduce costs required for energy.
The presence of lead in ceramic glazes has been reported in many studies( 2,3,4 ). Moreover, as you will find in my in-depth post about pure ceramic utensils safety, FDA reported that the glazed ceramic cookware imported from Mexico may contain heavy metals such as s lead even if it is labelled lead-free.
Finally, the clay used for making ceramic cookware may be contaminated by itself with heavy metals if it comes from areas that are contaminated by industrial activity, or had been contaminated in the past.(5, 6)
Even I would consider pure clay cookware as one of the safest cookware types, that provides many benefits to my daily cooking(see my post about ceramic cookware benefits Beliefs Vs Facts). It is very important how you choose your cookware.
So to benefit from pure cookware and all of its natural benefits the best will be to buy non-glazed ceramic cookware from local producers that get the clay from deposits away from industrial activities and with a long tradition of ceramic production.
Here is such a place near to my hometown in Serbia, in Southeastern Europe
However, if you don’t have access to such places, and you live in urban or industrialized areas, Another option is buying from a few reputable international brands.
Such brands usually publicly present the certification of the clay and glazes. Additionally, because of the shipping to countries around the world, they need to pass product control, especially if they sell in regions such as the EU.
Great examples of that can be a Familly oven company from the US called Cermaicor(Known for the brand Xtrema), Miriams Earthen cookware(MEC) also coming to the US, or the German-based company Romertopf, known for the decades of their experience once in the ceramic sector.
The web pages of these companies may give you some helpful direction in your search for safe bakeware, while you can see more about each of them, and the safety certificates they provide in my in-depth post about ceramic cookware brands.
1.2 Is Stainless steel bakeware safe?
In general, stainless steel is safe to use as a food contact material. This metal comes in different food-grade alloys, among which 304 and 316 alloys are the most common.
Apart from iron steel alloys contain nickel and chromoim present in ranges usually from 8-20%, which give better corrosion resistance and amenability to steel(7.).
In my post about the 304 Stainless steel safety, I more in-depth explain the purpose of using different alloying metals in stainless steel and the health risks of leaking food for each of them.
Moreover, as a summary of the article, I would highlight that the regulations in many modern countries have prescribed the leaking limits of all of the metals that can be present in metal alloys used for cookware production including stainless steel.
As an example European governing body, the Council Of Europe has published strict limitations for the leaking of several metals from stainless steel cookware including iron, chromium, nickel and maiden (8).
These limitations are published in the form of specific release limits(SRLs) which present a permitted amount of a metal ion (in mg) that can be realized from cookware articles of defined surface area into food or food simulants of certain weight(usually expressed in kg).
The internationally-renowned institute KTH(Royal Institute of Technology) in Sweden did a survey where they tested seven grades of stainless steel(Including common food grades such as 304 and 316) and demonstrated that all the grades tested are safe for food preparation, with the metals leaking amounts below the Specific Release Limits (SRL) set by the CoE guidelines(9).
So are we safe to use stainless steel bakeware?
The answer is most probaly YES.
Moreover, like for other cookware items, choosing the bakeware from the worldwide known manufacturers that also sell their cookware on the EU market(where the regulations are the ) gives you the best chance to get the products with tested composition and quality. (Find more about EU and US cookware regulations together with their pros and cones in my in-depth post here)
Personally, I use stainless steel cookware mainly in the form of skillets and saucepans from the brands like Misen, Sardel All-clad(You can see my Sardel, and Misen review posts after a long time of using them). Such cookware pieces can be quite versatile since they can be used both on or for baking purposes.
I do not use stainless steel cookware particularly made for baking like sheets, lasagna and cake baking pans or pans for muffins. Nevertheless, I will highlight a few internationally available brands that sell their cookware also on the EU market, which gives an extra guarantee that they needed to pass strict safety regulations.
E-Far is a brand providing cookware through Amazon both in the countries like France and Germany as well as in the Us. The products are made from long-lasting stainless steel(based on customer comments) and generally received a lot of positive reviews.
Another company with also wide distribution in the EU and US is Team-Far, which also offers durable bakeware sets including everything from baking sheets to pans for muffins and bread.
Finally, even though these two companies attracted my attention for getting stainless steel bakeware in the future(I feel I desperately need one loaf baking pan😊 ) there are other potential brands that need to pass high safety regulations of the EU market, and that may be interesting for you.
1.3. Is Glass bakeware safe?
You probably heard that glass cookware is one of the safest and most inner types on the market.
And I would say that that is ALMOST fully right.
With a few exceptions that I will list in the following paragraphs most of the modern glass cookware pieces are made of inert material that doesn’t release chemicals that are potentially toxic for health or react with the food in a way that can harm your body
Glass cookware folds mainly into two types, including borosilicate glass comprised mainly of Silicon dioxide(70-80%) and boric oxide(5-10%) together with soda lime glass comprised of silica (around 70%) with the addition of metal oxides such as sodium oxide (10-15%), lime (10-15%) some other methal oxic+des present in minority (find Brittanica references for the composition of soda lime glass and borosilicate glass)
Both types of glasses have been used for decades in producing different types of storage containers, starting from food storage vessels and tableware to packaging vessels for medicines and chemicals.
Furthermore, the use of these two types of glass materials is highly appreciated due to their non-reactiveness with liquids, solid substances or gasses. Here is just one of the citations from the experts in glass production coming from the German company SCHOTT Pharmaceutical Systems
“Borosilicate glass containers, because of their chemical inertness, excellent barrier properties, high transparency, and mechanical stability have been successfully used for decades to package parenteral drug formulations. “
Moreover, here is the picture from when of the analytical chemistry labs related to my PhD projects, where we use glass vials as the best standard to prevent the leaking of any molecules to the chemicals that we work with.
So you are going to make quite a safe choice by deciding to take glass bakeware for your kitchen. However, there are two cases when glass bakeware may posses a safe risk for your halt, and It is good to be aware of them.
1. Old bakeware made out of glass-
In that may head lead as its constitutive part. Lead oxide was added to improve the optical qualities of glass, increasing its refractive index and brilliance. However, this is how some glass pieces in history(especially drinkware) were made due to unawareness of heavy metal’s impact on health.
(I remember some years ago how much I was surprised when I discovered that the word crystal is used in most of cases for glass containing lead oxide).
Fortunately, during the end of the last century, the concerns around the health effects of exposure to lead rose rapidly(especially because of lead in car fuel) which led to the elimination of this metal from the production of many items including food contact materials.
So most of the modern glass items intended to come in contact with food are from borosilicate and limestone glass and do not contain lead oxides.
For this reason, I would avoid the use of glass bakeware and cookware in general that comes from a decade or more ago and that doesn’t have a clear label that is made from soda limestone or borosilicate glass.
2. Bakeware from glass produced in developing countries.
Finally, in some cases, even glass produced in the modern world can be contaminated by heavy metals especially if it comes from countries in development.
An important can be to mention several studies done by Polish scientists that collected more than several hundred items of glassware to examine the migration of different metals.
They find that in a small percentage of glass items where the migration of heavy metals passed the limits prescribed by EU and Polish standards, most of them were imported from outside of the EU( possibly from countries like China high cookware safety standards still don’t exist).
They stated:
“1273 samples of ceramics and glass wares were analysed in 2010-2012. Lead and cadmium releases were usually found to be below analytical detection limits. Permissible migration limits (as prescribed by the legislation) of these metals were rarely exceeded and were reported mainly in articles imported from outside the EU.”
And as mentioned a few times in this article, it is a great option when you can choose the cookware from reputable manufacturers that also have their market in EU countries, because of strict regulations applied there.
This brings us to one more point, which is how to choose the glass bakeware and for which brands to look.
Even though many companies are producing glas bakeware out there, there are a few world-known companies that have their production or market share in Europe, where they need to pass through all of the demanding EU regulations.
A good example could be the Pyrex Glass brand from Corning Inc. company, which makes storage containers and glass baking from soda lime glass and ships its products on Amazon across the globe.
Moreover, an additional example can be the Visions brand of bakeware originally made by Corning France, which produce its cookware from a special type of glass-ceramic mix called Pyroceram. This type of glass is particularly resistant to temperature shocks (such as putting the bakeware directly from the fridge to the hot oven ).
It is composed of similar materials as soda lime and borosilicate glass including silicon dioxide (SiO2). boron oxide (B2O3) and small amounts of other metal oxides.
However, apart from the glass phase the Pyroceram contains a crystalline phase, which gives it ceramic-like properties( this is commonly achieved by adding to pyrolytic boron nitride crystal). So, if you are looking for extremely resistant glass bakeware Cornings Pyroceram can be a good place to start.
2.What bakeware to avoid?(And in which cases)
In general, there are some bakeware types where regardless of the models, they may present a risk to health if they are used with wrong cookware practices. In the following text, I will give some remarkable examples of this
2.1. Is Aluminium Bakeware Safe?
In general, aluminium bakeware doesn’t present a safe option when it is used for baking dishes containing acidic ingredients. On the other hand, baking in aluminium without acidic ingredients such as tomatoes, lemon juice or vinegar limits the leaking of aluminium into food and thus reduces the risk of neurological diseases, osteoporosis, hematologic disorders or respiratory system damage that are associated with aluminium exposure in high amounts.
Even though there is still a strong debate among scientific circles on the aluminium exposure correlation to different diseases previously mentioned disease cases are the ones where this correlation is confirmed.
As it has been concluded in one of the big literature reviews on Aluminium toxicity, coming from US, Canda and French experts exposure to high doses of aluminium lead to hemodialysis encephalopathy, softening of the bones, anaemia, and pathological changes to the lungs (11.)
However, it is important to understand what are the high doses and which cooking practices lead to exposure to such doses.
I went into detail about this in my post that compares Stainless steel and Aluminum cookware safety. Moreover, as a summary, in most cases, significant exposure to aluminium from cookware (in dozens of mg per portion of the food) occurs when dishes that contain a lot of liquid(like stews or saudđces) and acidic ingredients like tomato, fruits or vinegar are cooked in aluminium pots and pans for hours(12).
In addition, there are reported cases when acidic dishes such as fish or meat marinated in fruit juices were baked in aluminium foil(see more about the significance of leaking aluminium from Al foil and other sources here)
So as a general conclusion, led by the findings of the scientific publications what I would not recommend is using aluminium to directly bake the marinated fish or meat, or liquid dishes with acidic sources (like tomato). Because of this limitation that exists in all aluminium bakeware, I would consider it as a lesser safe than the bakeware types mentioned before.
However, I would add up that using aluminium sheets or moulds to bake the different types of dough (doesn’t matter if is it cookies, muffins, tarts, pies, bread or whatever you are inspired to make 🙂 allows us to be fully on a safe side.
2.2.Is granite non-stick bakeware safe?
In general, granite-coated nonstick bakeware is commonly coated with TEFLON, and it triggers the same health safety concerns as this material. This includes the release of toxic chemical residues used for Teflon coating manufacturing as well as the toxic gases produced on high heat due to TEFLON degradation.
But let’s go more in detail about the previous statements and where they come from.
Contrary to the common beliefs most of the granite-coated cookware is made with Teflon with the addition of the color patterns. Moreover, on specifications of the some cookware pieces with the word „granite“ in their name, you will find that their coating is made of Poly tetra fluoro ethylene(PTFE) which is a coating polymer known under the trademark name TEFLON.
In my in-depth post about granite cookware safety, I covered this topic more in detail. However, to make a summary of granite cookware health concerns(which also considers granite bakeware) I would claim two main issues.
1. The release of the toxic gasses that come from the degradation of Teflon coating under high temperatures (In a mentioned post about granite cookware safety you will find the table summary of scientific references showing temperatures at which PTFE starts to degrade). According to some of the scientific studies, it turned out that using heat as low as 200C (commonly used in baking and cooking in general) starts to trigger the degradation of PTFE.
2. THe presence of toxic chemical residues is used in the process of attaching the Teflon coating to the base of the cookware. These chemicals usually fall into the scope of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the family of molecules reported widely in the literature because of their negative Developmental effect(12), Liver damage(13), Immune system suppression(14) and hormonal disruption(15)
However, you may have contra claims against these points.
Regarding the second point, you can state that up to now there is no study that has shown significant residues and I would also agree.
However, The non-existence of reports showing the significant presence of toxic chemicals residues in Teflon cookware is maybe there because there are just a few studies done on this, and some future studies done on a large number of Teflon-based cookware samples will find significant toxic chemical residues.
By taking this into account, and the fact that all fo the cookware based on Teflon (including most of the granite cookware) is not safe to use under some common cookware practices(cooking/Baking temperatures higher than 200C) I would claim that in general Teflon cookware is causing more health concerns compared to cookware types presented in the first part of the post.
*On most of the cookware marked as Granite(And on tall other Teflon-based cookware) you will find that the upper-temperature limitation for use is 250-260C. However, mentioned post that included the summary of the studies that examined Teflon degradation at high temperatures, you will find that these temperatures can be much lower, and as low as 200C.
2.3. Ceramic coated bakeware, Is it safe?
As a whole, Ceramic coated bakeware is safe nonstick than others, because of the silica-based coating that is inert in contact with different food ingredients. However ceramic coating gets damaged usually after several months which leads to exposure of food to a metal bakeware base. This metal base is commonly not built to come in contact with food and it can contain toxic metals like lead that can leach to food.
I write down more in-depth in my post on Ceramic coated cookware safety. However, If I would make a summary of it I would pull out a few main points.
Firstly, it will be important to say that ceramic coating is made from silicone oxides, which is also one of the building blocks of glass cookware and ceramics.
More precisely, ceramic-coated cookware production involves a procedure called gel sol technology which applies thin layers of silicon and creates a nonstick layer. For more details take a look at my post, “Is ceramic coated cookware ceramic?” Where I provide in-depth insides into the material science and technology behind ceramic coatings.
Like most of other glass and ceramics materials, this ceramic nonstick layer is very inert towards food.
However, since it I very thin, ceramic coating easily gets damaged in a few months of weekly use even If you are very careful with it(See my post on how long ceramic coated pans last in practice).
Now you may ask, alright the ceramic coating gets damaged, but how that makes pans nonsafe?
The point is that the base of the ceramic-coated bakeware(mainly made from aluminium and stainless steel alloys) comes in direct contact with the food(This happens since people don’t depose away the cookware when the coating damage tarts to progress).
Finally, these alloys are not aimed to come in contact with food and thus they have an increased promotability to have traces of heavy metals which may end up in food. This may be an especially huge problem in developing countries where cookware safety is not strictly controlled and where a lack of regulations exists.
One of the recent studies that tested heavy metal content in 43 metal cookware products from more than 10 countries found a huge amount of these elements in the majority of the samples(16)
So, in conclusion, avoiding ceramic-coated bakeware can be a good choice since the damage of the coating with such cookware occurs in a matter of months(even if you are very careful). This further leads to loss of nonstick abilities and direct contact with the food with the metal base of the bakeware. Finally, the metal base of the ceramic bakeware can contain toxic metals such as lead and cadmium, and a particular risk exists with the products coming from developing countries.
2.4. Silicone bakeware, is it safe?
In the last decades, silicone started to be used in many cookware and cutlery applications, starting from baking molds, spatulas all away to containers for food storage.
Moreover, the common belief is that silicone is quite inter material that can withstand normal baking temperatures without a problem.
However, even pure silicone made of silicone oxides is known for its high heat resistance, and withstanding temperatures ranging from -40°C to 230°C (-40°F to 446°F) without melting or degrading(17) many additive molecules are added to it to modify its physical properties(e.g. add colour or increase elasticity..)
These additive molecules can be the ones that migrate from silicone bakeware, or degrade at high temperatures and thus present a problem for the health.
As concluded by the EFSA, one of the Biggest Food safety organisations in Europe, The potential health concerns associated with the use of silicone as a food contact material (FCM) are related to the migration of certain substances, such as cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes (cVMS), from the silicone into food.
While the health effects of cVMS are not yet fully understood, some studies have suggested that they may have endocrine-disrupting properties and could potentially cause harm to human health(18).
A good example of these studies can be the research done by the Swiss federal office of Public Health which evaluated the stability of silicone baking moulds and migration limits of different molecules contained in silicone to the food simulant. At the end of their research, they concluded:
"Up to 100°C, silicone elastomers can be considered as inert as shown by low overall migration values. Around 150°C, silicone elastomers start to degrade at such a rate that the limit of 10 mg/dm2 prescribed in the Resolution of the Council of Europe is reached in most cases…. The migration residue is essentially composed of cyclic oligomeric polydimethylsiloxanes, however, some samples contain cyclic and linear oligomeric polydimethylsiloxanes.."
"The loss of volatiles at 200°C completes the migration values and shows that some moulds lose more than 0.5% of their weight during a 4-hour heating process. Although the loss of the mould weight decreases rapidly with the number of uses, all the observations indicate that silicone baking moulds are not inert enough for use in all the range of temperatures indicated by the manufacturers”
So in conclusion, even pure silicone is a greatly inert substance, and different additives added to silicone-based bakeware may hold risks to health especially when exposed to heating.
