Gourmia is a famous brand known for its various kitchen appliances, including air fryers. They use non-stick coatings similar to Teflon on their cooking surfaces, while others may use alternative non-stick materials such as ceramic coatings.
It’s normal for anyone using nonstick cookware or appliances to question the health safety of the product. The same goes for Gourmia Air Fryers.
If you’re wondering whether Gourmia Air fryers are Teflon-free and health safe, this short article is for you.
What is Teflon?
Teflon is a brand name for a type of polymer known as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). PTFE is a high-performance plastic known for its unique combination of properties. Dr. Roy Plunkett, a chemist at DuPont, discovered it in 1983.
It has a very low friction coefficient, making it extremely slippery and resistant to sticking. It can also withstand temperatures of up to 260°C (500°F) without degrading. This is why Teflon is suitable for high-temperature applications.
Other than the heat, when it comes to chemical reactions, Teflon is resistant to most chemicals. This resistance makes it ideal for a wide range of industrial applications where exposure to chemicals is common.
Teflon has excellent dielectric properties, making it useful as an insulating material in electronics and electrical equipment like air fryers and ovens.
Because of such great qualities, it’s part of numerous appliances in various industries, including aerospace, automotive, electronics, and food processing.
However, concerns have been raised about the potential environmental and health effects of using Teflon and other PTFE materials when heated to high temperatures.
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Does Gourmia Air Fryer have Teflon?
Yes, Gourmia Air Fryers are susceptible to having a Teflon or Teflon-like coating. Gourmia itself seems silent about the query. Hundreds of customers have shared concerns about whether Gourmia air fryers have Teflon.
Yet more surprisingly, the manufacturer ignored their questions. They’ve only stated once that it’s a Teflon-like coating that is BPA and PAFO-free and certified by FDA rules.
What does it mean?
They don’t want to reveal it.
Of course, that’s not the ceramic coating. Yet, this coating also chips off when you heat your Gourmia Air Fryer on high heat.
So are Gourmia Air Fryers Fully Health-Safe?
As far as health safety is concerned, based on the use of Teflon in Gourmia air fryers, they’re generally health safe.
How?
Teflon, or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), manufactured since 2015, is safe for cookware and other applications under normal conditions. When ingested, it doesn’t harm your body at all.
However, the real concern about health safety arises when the Teflon Coating starts to chip off at extremely high temperatures (above 260°C or 500°F).
The broken PTFE coating releases fumes that contain potentially harmful chemicals: perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) or per-and-poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
These fumes can cause a temporary condition known as “Teflon flu” or “polymer fume fever,” with symptoms similar to the flu, such as fever, chills, headache, and body aches.
So should you stop using cookware with Teflon coating? No, take measures. Some are listed below:
- Do not preheat empty Teflon-coated pans, as this can cause them to heat up quickly and potentially reach unsafe temperatures. But, if the coating chips off, it’s time to choose better cookware because a chipping coating is also a sign of the compromised quality of Teflon.
- Use low to medium heat settings when cooking with Teflon-coated cookware.
- Avoid using metal spatulas that can scratch or damage the Teflon coating, as this can release harmful particles into your food.
So, should you get a Gourmia Air Fryer?
If you don’t cook food at high heat that can damage Teflon-like coating, you can consider Gourmia Air Fryers, for they’re cheap and efficient. You can even get them at Costco.
Yet, if you love to cook in air fryers much, we worry that the Gourmia coating will be less durable, so you should buy an air fryer without a Teflon coating.
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