Is Stainless Steel Cookware Safe?
You have enough to worry about in your busy life, without asking yourself—is stainless steel cookware safe?
Let’s face it, these days we’re all trying to be healthy.
Fresh vegetables, lean meats and cutting back on the oil—all positive steps to improve our overall condition. But, it’s possible your pans, pots and skillets could be wrecking your wellbeing.
Luckily, Nutricraft products are made from high-grade surgical steel combined with titanium—the ultimate in performance and safety.
Allow me to reveal the shocking truth about stainless steel, and why choosing the optimum quality materials in your cookware is something you can’t neglect.
What Is Stainless Steel?
This metal is an alloy of steel, with a minimum of 10.5 percent chromium—and that’s important.
The inclusion of chromium creates a ‘passive layer’—which prevents corrosion.
When cooking, pots and pans naturally take a serious hammering—exposure to high heat, liquids and metal utensils create a perfect storm for degradation. Hence, a material that can withstand these hardships is required.
However, not all stainless steel is considered safe for food preparation. The NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) international regulations state that only the following grades should come into contact with edibles:
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200 series—includes chromium, nickel and manganese, this last compound keeping the retail price down as a cheaper material.
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304 series—the most common food grade, with 15-20 percent chromium and 2-10.5 percent nickel. Good quality, but can rust when exposed to salt.
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316 series—includes chromium, nickel and molybdenum. Incredibly corrosion resistant, it’s the metal of choice in the medical industry.
Nutricraft delivers only the highest rated stainless steel cookware—the 316 grade.
Is Stainless Steel Safer Than Other Materials?
Generally speaking, stainless steel is one of the safest materials for cookware. Many experts consider other compounds inferior to this alloy, and more likely to induce wellbeing concerns.
Iron
Many people swear by the weight and seeming indestructibility of cast iron. These seriously hard-on-the-wallet products are indeed hardwearing but can impair both food flavour and your health.
Iron is porous, meaning pans made from this material need seasoning—that is, allowing oil to seep into the material to protect it from corrosion. However, this can turn rancid, leading to weird tasting food.
Copper
Copper pans can cause toxicity issues. The FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) recommends completely avoiding unlined copper cookware as it can leach into foods and promote illness.
Aluminium
Similarly, aluminium can leak into food from cookware, leading to gastrointestinal issues. Research from Ashland University states that exposure to this metal from pans poses a ‘significant and largely unrecognized public health risk which deserves urgent attention.’
Coatings
You may think that if your pan is lined with a non-stick coating, you’ll be protected from any metal toxicity issues.
While this is true to an extent, these coatings could promote a different set of problems.
Many manufacturers coat non-stick pans with PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), most commonly known as Teflon. This compound has the ability to ensure food doesn’t stick during cooking and provides an almost friction-free surface.
However, its dangers are becoming increasingly apparent.
Scientists explain that when heated, Teflon releases a gaseous form of PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid). Overexposure to this compound can lead to:
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Infertility in women.
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Impaired fetal growth.
Perhaps most worrying of all, is that in the 2000 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, over 98 percent of participants had PFOA in their bloodstream.
Hence, the safest cookware to use is pots, pans and skillets that don’t have a Teflon coating—as with the stainless steel range from Nutricraft.
The bottom line:
Always select non toxic cookware—the safest option being stainless steel.
The Safest Stainless Steel Cookware
While using stainless steel cookware is the best way to ensure your food isn’t tainted and you don’t end up in the emergency room—here’s a quick word of advice.
Not all products are created equal.
When choosing your culinary essentials, there are two important factors to bear in mind.
Source and Purity of Steel
Some bargain-basement stainless steel pans can include scrap metal. While we all consider recycling positive for the environment, it’s not ideal for products that come into contact with food.
Firstly, do you really want to be cooking your vegetables in an upcycled urinal? Admittedly, the health risks are small, as the melting down process would eliminate any unsavoury nasties. But personally, I’d rather the men’s bathroom furniture was turned into something that didn’t come into contact with my dinner.
Secondly, it reduces the quality of the steel. Various metals combined in the alloy may reduce its durability and promote wellbeing concerns. Studies show that pans made from scrap can leach harmful levels of metal.
The stainless steel products from Nutricraft contain no scrap materials—just pure steel and titanium.
The Grade of the Steel
Always go for the ultimate in stainless steel quality—the 316 grade.
If you choose lower classifications, it’s true they’ll be functional, but they will not deliver the immense benefits of 316 grade products. Furthermore, research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry explains that lower standards can leach nickel and chromium into food.
The cookware from Nutricraft is rated as 316Ti—the ultimate in steel quality, enhanced by the inclusion of titanium. Thus delivering hard-wearing, non-corrosive and odour-neutral performance.
This stainless steel class is so immensely durable and safe that it’s widely used in professional food processing, pharmaceutical equipment and medical devices.
The key behind 316 grade is the inclusion of molybdenum—a compound which has the advantages of:
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Being highly resistant to corrosion.
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Protecting against salt damage.
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Unaffected by acids.
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Preventing cracking and pitting.
As the Nutricraft products are made from this 316 material—they have the safety benefits of not trapping decaying food, won’t break and spill dangerously hot liquids, or leach chemicals into your food.
Conclusion
Cooking with stainless steel is one of the safest methods of preparing food—but only if you select the ultimate in quality. Cheaper products can corrode, break, leach harmful chemicals and be made from scrap metal.
Don’t run the risk.
The 316Ti grade stainless steel in the Nutricraft range will ensure safety and a rewarding and enjoyable cooking experience.
Furthermore, you’ll no longer be wondering is stainless steel cookware safe? Instead, you’ll have the peace of mind of culinary safety, combined with a 50-year warranty. Get started on your wellbeing journey by taking a look at the Nutricraft products here.