There’s a temperature threshold that could cause your air fryer to become a health hazard. An uptick in cases of Teflon Flu — an illness caused by emissions from overheated nonstick cookware material — has given rise to concerns about air fryer safety. Air fryers typically utilize nonstick coating for cooking baskets and those baskets are often subjected to blazing hot temperatures.
So is your air fryer at risk of releasing toxic emissions that could cause Teflon Flu?
What is Teflon Flu?
An elevated number of Teflon Flu cases were reported in 2023, according to a recent Washington Post investigation.
Polymer fume fever, or commonly known as “Teflon Flu,” is an illness that occurs when noxious fumes from a Teflon or chemically-treated nonstick pan are inhaled. These fumes are emitted when nonstick pans overheat or burn.
With normal use, nonstick coatings aren’t thought to cause a health risk, but when heated to above 500 F there are increased emissions and the resulting polymer fume fever. Polymer fume fever causes a range of reported symptoms including fever, chills, muscle tension and headache. Symptoms of Teflon flu are temporary and generally start within 12 hours of exposure, but can take up to 24 hours to take hold.
Nonstick cookware is made with polytetrafluoroethylene (also known as PTFE). PTFEs are known as “forever chemicals” since they take decades or sometimes even hundreds of years to break down.
Do air fryers have Teflon coating?
Most air fryer baskets are coated with Teflon or a similar nonstick coating.
The majority of air fryers in the market today have Teflon or nonstick-coated cooking baskets. They function similarly to nonstick cookware in that they release food easily and can be cleaned often with just soapy, hot water. Also, like Teflon and nonstick cookware, air fryer baskets will chip when confronted with hard metal cooking utensils or wire scrub brushes.
So can your air fryer cause Teflon Flu?
Most air fryers don’t go above 450 F. If yours does, keep the temperature at 450 F or below and you may want to consider replacing it altogether.
Technically an air fryer basket could cause Teflon Flu if the surface was heated to 500 F or more for an extended period, but most air fryers don’t exceed 450 F for that very reason. Many of the air fryers we’ve tested only reach a maximum temperature of 400 F.
What to do if your air fryer goes to 500 F
If your air fryer has a setting that allows it to reach temperatures above 500 F and has a nonstick basket, avoid cooking food at such a high temperature. You may consider replacing your air fryer with one that doesn’t just to be safe. If it’s capable of hitting 500 F, it might do so just with natural fluctuations of temperature and is probably not worth the risk.
If you’re still worried about Teflon Flu or other complications associated with nonstick, there are air fryers with ceramic and glass bowl cooking chambers such as this one.
This self-cleaning air fryer features a glass bowl.
For more air fryer safety tips, see our guide to safely using these trendy countertop cookers.
