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Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

theatlantic.com

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Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#311

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

methyl wrote: post #300
whoitwas wrote: post #292

After I learned about the harmful effects of Teflon, I became much more cautious about consumption. It's nearly impossible to avoid the toxins when eating out because wax has been replaced with synthetics that leach into food from packaging. Just use metal wood or glass. One thing I'm not aware of is if Pyrex or the other tempered glasses are safe or if they also contain plastic. That would be good to learn.

From what I know, Teflon is neutral as long as you don't overheat it and breathe in the gas. Can you point some sources stating otherwise?

Teflon itself is not the issue (unless it goes over about 260°C), but the PFAs which should have been phased out of modern non-stick coatings. The problem is if the surface is scratched from using metal utensils or scourers as this can cause PFAs to leach into the food.

https://www.consumerreports.org/toxic-chemicals-substances/y...

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#312

Post by Aachen »

askvictor wrote: post #242
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than the hygiene argument of bacteria build up what is wrong with just using wooden spatulas for example?

Do you have any sources for wood cooking implements being unhygienic? I recall one a few years ago finding that wooden cutting boards are _more_ hygienic than plastic as they pull bacteria into their pores and trap and kill them: https://news.ncsu.edu/2014/09/cutting-boards-food-safety/

I don't cut into my spatula, though. It doesn't have the same grooves as a plastic cutting board

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#313

Post by Aachen »

ethagnawl wrote: post #297
Aachen wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article does speak of black specifically, not just any plastic. Even if there aren't any that don't put the hot liquid in contact with plastic, it might be worth looking at the color (is my understanding from the article)

Yeah, sorry, that was implied. I would assume that's what they all use. Based on my recent personal experience, even the higher end options like Moccamaster and OXO use black plastic.

Ah, darn. I'm not a coffee drinker myself so didn't know that they're all black on the inside :(

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#314

Post by moolcool »

verisimi wrote: post #114
kazinator wrote: post #65

How about, don't fry with any color plastic spatulas.

If you have a teflon frying pan, using metal damages the surface. I wouldn't think eating teflon bits is good either.

Wood and bamboo are good options if you have to use a teflon pan

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#315

Post by reginald78 »

infecto wrote: post #293
Aachen wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might not matter: The article also speaks of a black necklace for children that was found to be 3% flame retardant chemicals by weight, saying > Those flame retardants migrate into toddlers’ saliva and into the dust in our homes Perhaps it's fine if you don't lick your coffee machine, or perhaps not. I guess being less worried makes sense but I'm not sure that we need not be worried about boiling our drinks in fire r…

Ugh you reminded me how much I hate flame retardants and the horrible laws we have in America that have us spray it everywhere. I was just recently looking at bicycle seats for small kids and the one I found interesting happened to recently have a recall (Thule) as they grossly over applied the flame retardant to a point where it was immediately toxic. I am guessing it was in the foam pieces but such a depressing ide…

Why exactly do bicycle seats and toddler necklace toys need to be flame retardant again?

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#316

Post by Mattwmaster58 »

Tomte wrote: post #304
nine_k wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or a gift link: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/10/black-pla... (@dang, please consider using it as the main link.)

Not working for me. It loads, but still with paywall.

interesting, does work for me

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#317

Post by xmodem »

MrSkelter wrote: post #226
altacc wrote: post #166

This article is brief and uses big numbers to make a scary point but I'd be interested in if there is proof of causation of significant physiological effects at the exposure level from domestic cooking. Often media will say "people exposed to Y have increased Z" but fail to mention that in studies those people worked in industrial settings with Y and the exposure level is hundreds or thousands of times higher than in…

The precautionary principle plus what we know about heating plastic makes your reticence seem churlish. There are easy, safe alternatives in wood, metal and silicone. There’s no need to risk it.

Wood is not dishwasher safe, metal will damage the cookware's non-stick coating, which may be worse than the plastic I'm trying to avoid. I guess that leaves silicone.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#318

Post by kalaksi »

moe_sc wrote: post #210
kalaksi wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure there's absolutely nothing wrong with virgin plastics? Maybe it'd be safer and simpler to just avoid plastic in e.g. cooking since the growing amount of research about effects of plastics doesn't seem very positive.

> nothing more than plastics in general

Maybe I'm having some kind of brain fart or mixed something up, but I thought "absolutely nothing" was a direct quote from them and no mention of plastics in general.

Is there a way to see if/how comment was edited?

I'll try to quote things more directly from now on...

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#319

Post by moolcool »

exmadscientist wrote: post #71

The correlation-causation in this article is really rather screwed up. The way it really works for plastic is this: almost all bad plastic is black, but not all black plastic is bad. That's it. There is nothing wrong whatsoever with virgin black plastics. (Well, at least, nothing more than is wrong with plastics in general.) So there is no reason to fear black plastic from reputable sources. The trouble comes in when…

I don't think it's worth nit-picking in this case.

Everyone wants to reduce their plastic intake, but nobody wants to throw 80% in their kitchenware in the trash. There's no obvious steps you can get people to follow to check if their spatula is one of the "good" ones, so tossing black plastic is a good concrete step to advise people to take.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#320

Post by Forgeties79 »

armada651 wrote: post #290
MrSkelter wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The precautionary principle plus what we know about heating plastic makes your reticence seem churlish. There are easy, safe alternatives in wood, metal and silicone. There’s no need to risk it.

The problem is that even when there are easy, safe alternatives trying to avoid every little risk in your life will drive you crazy. This is a clear case where a regulator should step in and just ban these black plastic utensils in favor of their safe alternatives. That way you're not just protected from exposure in your own kitchen, but also when joining your friends for dinner.

Being deliberate about the materials you choose for your cookware is not the same as stressing out over every little risk in your life. For some people these are the materials that they use to prepare their food literally every day and one purchase will last years.
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