How we check
Every record lists the parts of a product that touch your food or water, what each part is made of, and what sources say about each hazard. This page explains how we do it, and what we never do.
What we check
For each air fryer and pan we record every part that touches food, such as the basket, crisper plate, drawer, cooking surface, lid, window, seals and rivets. For each part we note the material and the coating, quote the source word for word, and give the date we checked it.
Each product then gets one line per hazard:
- PTFE and other PFAS: non stick coatings, including PTFE, often sold as Teflon.
- Lead and cadmium: metals in coatings, glazes and enamel.
- Bisphenols: BPA and similar chemicals in plastic parts and coatings.
- Plastic touching food: plastic parts that touch food or water, such as lids, windows, seals and storage lids. Non stick coatings are recorded on the PTFE and other PFAS line, not here. Silicone parts are named in the parts table.
- Flame retardants: checked only for black plastic utensils. None of the air fryers or pans we list includes one, so this line is not shown.
What the status words mean
- Free from
- A source says this product is free from it. The evidence label shows what that rests on.
- Contains
- A source says this product contains it, or uses a material or coating that does.
- PFOA free only, may contain PTFE
- The brand only says "PFOA free". That does not mean free from PTFE, which many non stick coatings use.
- Not relevant
- This hazard cannot apply, for example no plastic part touches food.
- Not found
- We found nothing from the brand, a test or a certificate on this. It does not mean the product contains it.
The six evidence labels
Every status shows the evidence it rests on, strongest first:
- Independent test
- A lab or tester not paid by the brand published a result, with a date.
- Brand lab report
- The brand published a third party lab result we can see.
- Certificate
- A named certificate or Declaration of Compliance.
- Material
- The material cannot carry the hazard, and we have proof of the material. For example, uncoated stainless steel cannot have a PTFE coating. Enamel, glaze and ceramic never settle lead on their own.
- Brand claim
- The brand says it in writing, names the hazard and adds no conditions. We quote the exact words. A claim with small print or a limited scope is shown as “Brand claim (with conditions)”, and we quote the conditions too.
- No information
- Nothing found, or only a vague claim such as "eco" or "healthy".
When we recommend a product
A product is recommended on a hazard when its status is “Free from” or “Not relevant”, the label is not “No information”, and no independent test or brand source contradicts it. We work this out from the data every time the site is built; nobody types it in by hand. The label is always shown next to the status, so you can decide how much weight to give a brand claim.
What “PFOA free” means
“PFOA free” is not the same as PTFE free. A pan sold as “PFOA free” can still have a PTFE coating. When a brand says only “PFOA free”, we show “PFOA free only, may contain PTFE” and do not recommend the product on PTFE and other PFAS. More on PTFE and other PFAS
When sources disagree
Sometimes a brand’s page says one thing and its own manual says another, a shop’s listing disagrees with the brand, or a test disagrees with a brand claim. We show both sources side by side with their dates, and that line is not recommended until the brand replies.
Before such a line goes live, the brand gets a right of reply: we email the brand and wait for an answer, or 14 days.
What brands have told us
Each product page has a line about the brand, separate from the evidence labels:
- “Based on public information from the brand and others”, with the date, when we have not asked the brand.
- “We asked [brand] on [date]. No reply after 14 days.”
- “[Brand] replied on [date]:”, with the brand’s own words in quotation marks.
- “Confirmed by [brand] on [date]”, only when the brand confirms our record in writing. We keep a copy of the email.
We do not need a brand’s permission to quote what it publishes. We quote briefly, with the source and the date, and we never copy brand photos or logos. A brand that sends us a lab report can move its label up, for example from Brand claim to Brand lab report, after the same check and sign off as any other change.
If a brand or a reader shows us that something is wrong, we aim to fix it within 2 working days and list it on the corrections page.
If a brand shows us a statement we missed, we update the page within 2 working days.
How often we check
We recheck brand claims and shop links regularly, and every quote shows the date we saw it.
Who does the work
We use AI tools to help find and read brand pages, manuals, shop listings and published tests. A person then checks every record against its sources before it goes live, and signs it off with their name and the date. A record that has not had that final check does not appear on the site.
What we never do
- We never make health claims, and we never call a product “safe”, “unsafe” or “toxic”. We report what each source says, with the source and the date.
- We never call a product “verified”, “certified” or “approved”, or say it was “tested by Utenzeal”. We do not run lab tests ourselves.
- No star ratings and no open user reviews.
- No paid placements. A brand cannot pay to appear, to rank higher or to change a record.
- We earn from some shop links. It never changes what we record. How we make money