Silicone bakeware as source of human exposure to cyclic siloxanes(sciencedirect.com) |
Silicone bakeware as source of human exposure to cyclic siloxanes(sciencedirect.com) |
They are also used almost everywhere around us... shampoos, lotions, cleaning agents, cosmetics, medical implants, electronics, lubricants, etc. It seems a few ppm improves every kind of product.
What is the ppm emitted rate from shampoos?
Simply declaring the presence of a contaminant in other goods is not a meaningful contribution here.
I thought silicone was recommended over plastics/nonstick/etc because it's inert and chemically simple. The wikipedia says that cyclosiloxane is volatile, often used as a solvent, and evaporates.
Since it declines over time, it doesn't seem to be the result of normal wear/tear of the bakeware which does suggest it's something added during the manufacturing process. I've heard of doing an initial bake of silicone bakeware to remove factory stuff...
So is silicone as a cooking material actually fairly complex, new, and not as well understood as I thought (similar to plastics)? Or is this an avoidable manufacturing thing.
Also they mention "concerns", but I couldn't find any known health risks. Is this similar to microplastics, where it could be an issue but it isn't clear yet? Or are they known to be harmful?
They were nice enough to provide repeat experiments in 3.5, figure 2. It shows the release of c-siloxane drops of dramatically after the first baking. Then it tapers off.
That suggests to me this is not a structural component, but a solvent, softener, coating or similar that sits between the structural silicone. Otherwise, I'd expect reports of the silicone molds degrading after baking. Though I guess it could be material that simply didn't mate with a polymer chain. But that doesn't jive with the (sparse) Wikipedia article [1].
This doesn't say anything about whether they are inert. If they are inert and not meant to be bound to anything, then it makes sense they'll be washed away, and that doesn't matter (in the PFAS sense, where it turns out it does eventually matter :).
The EU is looking at D4-6 because it's bioaccumulative. Canada (where this study is from) looks at D4 [2].
Overall, this looks like a very comprehensive study. Many aspects covered. I'd like to also complain that mixing "cyclic siloxane" with "c-siloxane" makes it much more difficult to search through the paper. Why not stick with one name?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclosiloxane
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siloxane#Safety_and_environmen...
I wonder what the fall-off curve looks like for siloxane transfer out of the bakeware. If e.g. 70% of it comes out in the first 15 baking cycles, there could be a reasonable path to massively reducing exposure from this source. Just cook a few sacrificial recipes on new bakeware and throw them out uneaten.
Initial wear cycles could be simulated prior to shipment.
[0] https://www.fda.gov/food/process-contaminants-food/authorize...
Why not cook on less toxic surfaces that are clean?
When it comes to seasoning carbon steel you should not be letting carbon build up. It's a bad habit. If your getting carbon build up clean it off with something coarse like salt or a metal scrubber. After that if you need to it's not hard to give a pan a quick touch up seasoning with oil. Carbon steel is much quick to touch up season than something like cast iron. Cast irons rough sand cast surface means you generally need a much much thicker seasoning layer.
You also should still clean the pan too! Modern dish washing detergents are generally not made from lye so won't strip your seasoning.
Are you actually saying that companies were predicting government regulation years in advance and preemptively cranking out bulk PFAS-coated paper just in case? Because, of course, that’s what every industry does: mass-produce soon-to-be-banned chemicals for fun and profit.