Take a good look at your frying pan. Any scratches? Dull patches? Spots where food suddenly does stick? Then your non-stick coating is disappearing. And the question worth asking is a simple one: where has it gone?
Short answer
The smooth coating in almost every non-stick pan is made of PFAS, and that coating wears away.
These substances don't break down in nature, and Europe is moving to restrict them. While the coating is intact, little happens. But it goes downhill scratch by scratch, and what comes off doesn't vanish into thin air. You can also sidestep the whole thing with a pan whose surface doesn't come from that chemistry.
What's actually in a non-stick coating?
One chemical bond explains both why it works and why it's a problem.
PFAS. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a family of thousands of chemicals that repel grease and water. That's exactly why your fried egg slides straight out.
The problem is what else they do. The bond between carbon and fluorine is one of the strongest chemistry knows. So strong that nature can do nothing with it. They don't break down. Not in ten years, not in a hundred. Which is why they're called forever chemicals.
By now they're everywhere: in rainwater, in fish, in farmland. And in people. The Dutch public health institute RIVM found that people in the Netherlands take in more of them than the amount the European food safety authority EFSA judged safe in 2020.
That isn't a problem for the future. That's where we are today. Which words end up on the box and what they actually mean is covered in does your pan contain PFAS? how to tell.
Europe is restricting these substances
Lawmakers rarely get ahead of the panic. They usually trail behind it.
So look at what has already happened:
- PFOA, used for years in the manufacture of non-stick coatings, is banned across the European Union.
- In 2023 five European countries, the Netherlands among them, filed a proposal to restrict the entire PFAS group. It would be one of the biggest chemical restrictions Europe has ever seen.
So nobody is arguing about whether these substances are a problem. The argument is about how fast they have to go.
The only question left is whether you wait for that, or sort out your own kitchen now. The pans without PFAS are together under cooking.
What happens when your pan gets too hot?
An empty pan on a high heat gets hotter than you'd think within two minutes.
Above roughly 260 degrees the coating starts to break down and gives off fumes.
Bird owners have known what those fumes do for decades: a bird in the same room often doesn't survive it. In people it's documented as flu-like symptoms after breathing them in.
Let's be honest. Who's watching for 260 degrees while the kids are waiting at the table and the phone's going? A pan preheating empty while you hunt for the oil reaches that temperature more easily than you'd expect.
Do you keep birds at home? Never put them in or near the kitchen when you're cooking with a non-stick pan, and never leave a pan like that empty on a high heat.
And the coating you scrape away?
Every scratch is material that has come off your pan.
It doesn't dissolve. It goes into whatever you serve up that evening.
On top of that: once the coating is damaged, it stops doing its job. Food sticks, you scrape harder, more comes off. That's how it goes with every non-stick pan, however expensive.
The speed builds in that second half. The first scratch costs you almost nothing. But a pan that sticks in one spot gets worked harder in that spot, and that is exactly where the coating is already thinnest.
A non-stick pan isn't a purchase. It's a subscription. Every two or three years, all over again. Work out what that costs you over ten years, and where all those pans have ended up in the meantime.
Which pans come without PFAS?
Once you start comparing pans without PTFE, you meet four types. They don't do the same job.
Bare stainless steel. In Flanders it goes by inox. No coating, so nothing can come off. Lasts indefinitely and can take anything. It does ask for technique: preheat properly and only then add the food, otherwise it sticks.
Cast iron and enamelled cast iron. Holds heat like nothing else and lasts for generations. Against that stands the weight, and with untreated cast iron the upkeep: store it dry and season it.
A coating on thin aluminium. This is the category most budget pans fall into, even when the box says ceramic. The question isn't only what the coating is made of, but what it's stuck to. Thin aluminium flexes in the heat, and a coating on a base that moves will let go in time.
Solid steel with a surface of quartz sand. Releases the way you're used to, without a coating on a soft base that can flake.
Look as well at the thickness of the base. A thin base warps and develops hot spots, so your food sticks in one place and isn't done in another. That isn't a coating problem but a construction problem, and no coating solves it.
The pan that sidesteps the whole problem
No clever trick needed, just a pan that doesn't get its smoothness from chemistry.
DotShield is solid tri-ply stainless steel with a non-stick coating of natural silicon dioxide (SiO₂), or quartz sand: the same material as sand and glass. Inert, so it reacts with nothing. Not with your tomato sauce, and not if the pan gets too hot for once.
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100% free from PFAS, PFOA and PTFE. Nothing that can leach out or fume off, and the coating lasts up to 6x longer than a standard non-stick coating.
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Tri-ply solid steel: 304 stainless steel on the inside, an aluminium core for heat distribution and 430 stainless steel on the outside, so it works on induction.
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No thin plate that warps. No wobbling base, no oil running off to one side.
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Works on everything: gas, electric, ceramic and induction. And it goes in the oven up to 300 degrees.
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Scratch resistant, so it takes sturdy kitchen tools.
base thickness on the frying pans, against 2.5 mm on the saucepan and the wok
oven safe, and suitable for gas, induction, ceramic and electric
guarantee, because there's no coating to come off in year two
Doesn't food stick to stainless steel?
Straight answer: stainless steel asks a little more of you than a chemical coating does.
Two habits and it never bothers you.
Start on a medium-high heat. Quartz sand doesn't need a high heat to release food, and oil left sitting on a high heat certainly suffers.
A little oil or butter helps, even though the surface is non-stick.
Clean the pan as soon as it has cooled. Hand washing is recommended: warm water and a non-abrasive sponge, no scouring pad.
In return you get a pan you don't have to replace every few years, one you can use a metal spatula in, and one you can slide into a 250 degree oven without a second thought.
If something does catch now and then, that's not damage but simply work: how to clean a burnt pan shows how to sort it out without scouring.
Do you have to replace the whole cupboard now?
No, and it doesn't have to happen in one go.
If the coating on your current pan is still completely intact, you can carry on using it for now. Just never heat it empty. If you can see scratches or flaking patches, the moment has come: from that point on you're eating whatever comes off.
Start with the pan you use most, usually the 28 cm frying pan. That's where you make the biggest jump, and the pan that comes out of the cupboard twice a year can happily stay where it is.
Don't put an old pan in with the general waste. Under the coating there's aluminium or steel and that recycles perfectly well. Take it to your local recycling centre or council metal collection point.
Where most people start
One pan you use every day, that's the step you notice.
- DotShield Frying Pan 24cm · the size for two, 3.5 mm base
- DotShield Frying Pan 28cm · for the family, or if you like to be done in one go
- All DotShield frying pans · with glass lid, from 20 to 30 cm
You get thirty days to change your mind, even if you've already used the pan, and a five year guarantee.
Frequently asked questions
Should I throw out my current pan straight away?
If the coating is still completely intact, you can carry on using it for now; just never heat it empty. If you can see scratches or flaking patches, replace it. From that moment on you're eating whatever comes off.
Is PFAS banned in Europe?
PFOA is banned. For the whole PFAS group, a European restriction proposal has been on the table since 2023, filed by five countries including the Netherlands.
What's the difference between PFAS, PFOA and PTFE?
PFAS is the collective name for the whole family. PFOA is one specific substance from that family, used in production and now banned. PTFE is the material of the smooth coating itself, better known as Teflon. So PTFE isn't an alternative to PFAS, it's part of it.
Which pans come without PFAS?
Bare stainless steel, cast iron and enamelled cast iron, and pans with a surface based on silicon dioxide. Look not only at what the coating is made of, but also at what it's stuck to: a coating on thin aluminium lets go sooner.
Are ceramic pans free from PFAS?
Ceramic on the box tells you something about the coating, not about the pan underneath. The question that counts is what that coating sits on and how thick that base is. Thin aluminium flexes in the heat, and a coating on a base that moves will let go in time.
Why is silicon dioxide safe?
SiO₂ is the main component of sand and glass. It's inert: it doesn't react with your food and nothing leaches out, not even at high temperature.
Does a DotShield pan work on induction?
Yes, on every heat source: gas, electric, ceramic and induction. The 430 stainless steel outer layer is picked up straight away and the pan stays flat.
Doesn't food stick to stainless steel quickly?
Not with two habits: start on a medium-high heat and use a little oil or butter. Quartz sand doesn't need a high heat to release food.
Can a DotShield pan go in the dishwasher?
Hand washing is recommended: warm water and a non-abrasive sponge as soon as the pan has cooled. No scouring pad.
Why is an empty pan on a high heat dangerous?
Because it climbs above roughly 260 degrees within minutes. That's where a non-stick coating starts to break down and gives off fumes. For birds in the same room that's often fatal.
What do I do with my old non-stick pan?
Not in with the general waste. Under the coating there's aluminium or steel and that recycles well, the coating doesn't. Take the pan to your local recycling centre or council metal collection point.
What if I don't get on with the pan?
Then you send it back within thirty days, even if you've cooked in it. On top of that you have a five year guarantee on material and manufacturing faults.
More in the kitchen
If you're not sure whether your current pan has a PFAS coating, run through the five points in does your pan contain PFAS. All the pans are together in the DotShield collection.