Hidden PFAS in small appliances: air fryers, waffle makers and more

What to do before you buy

Start with the parts that touch your food. That’s where the laws focus, and it’s where a nonstick coating would sit.^1,2

• Check the basket, tray, plate or inner pot. Look up what each food-contact part is made of: uncoated stainless steel, glass or a coating. The motor and wiring aren’t where the cookware bans look.^1,2
• Read a plain “nonstick” as a coating with no name yet. The 2025 test picked air fryers that didn’t say PTFE on the label. All six still contained fluorine compounds, and the French lab identified PTFE.^6,7
• Ask for the coating by name. If the brand says “PFAS-free,” ask what the coating is instead and whether anyone tested it: who, which method and when. Our label decoder shows what each answer is worth.
• Don’t stop at “PFOA-free.” PFOA is one PFAS. PTFE is another. In the French lab’s air fryer tests, the coatings were fluoropolymers such as PTFE, and no PFOA turned up.⁷ See what “PFAS-free” cookware actually means.
• Prefer a coating-free basket? Know the trade-off. The Danish consumer group that ran the test found no air fryer without PFAS among the six it tested and said one can be hard to find.⁵ Our materials guide covers how uncoated steel and glass behave.

If you already own one

No need to drag it to the curb. The Danish testers said air fryers don’t reach the temperatures needed to release PFAS from the coating, and that owners don’t have to replace them.⁵

• Be kind to the coating. Que Choisir recommends wooden or silicone tools, a soft sponge and a non-abrasive cleaner. Skip metal scrapers.⁸
• Retire a damaged basket. If the coating blisters, flakes or cracks, Que Choisir advises you to stop using the appliance.⁸
• Keep the heat in range. Germany’s risk agency says PTFE starts to break down at around 360 °C (680 °F), and it advises never heating PTFE cookware empty.⁹ Que Choisir says air fryers generally don’t go above 220 °C (428 °F).⁸
• About those paper liners. The same European test found a PFAS called 6:2 FTOH in 14% of the baking papers and food wraps it tested.⁵ In the U.S., the FDA says PFAS grease-proofers for paper food packaging are no longer sold into the market.¹⁰

Curious about plastic and microplastics in the kitchen too? That’s a different question, covered in our microplastics guide.

Which appliances the laws cover

Here’s the short version: if a part that touches food has a PFAS nonstick coating, the appliance can count as cookware. If the PFAS are only inside the machine, it doesn’t count, at least for now.^1,2,4

The exemption has an end date in two states. Minnesota bans intentionally added PFAS in any product from January 1, 2032, unless the state rules a use “currently unavoidable.”³ Maine says cookware with PFAS only in internal parts falls under its 2032 ban.¹ For every state’s dates, see our state PFAS cookware laws guide.

See the evidence: what each state actually says

• Maine: cookware includes pots, pans, skillets, grills, baking sheets, baking molds, trays, bowls and cooking utensils, “as well as any electric versions of these products such as waffle makers, electric skillets, and air fryers.” Products without intentionally added PFAS on the food-contact surface, but with PFAS in internal parts that don’t touch food, are outside the 2026 ban and subject to the 2032 ban.¹
• Rhode Island: the agency says air fryers, rice cookers and microwave ovens “are generally considered small appliances and may therefore be exempt,” but an appliance with a basket, tray or grill pan that has intentionally added PFAS on the food-contact surface counts as cookware from January 1, 2027. PFAS only in an appliance’s electronics are excluded. It also says electric PFAS-coated frying pans, skillets and pots are covered, while large appliances and small complex appliances, such as an electric coffee machine, are not.²
• Minnesota (statute): cookware with intentionally added PFAS has been banned since January 1, 2025, but the ban doesn’t cover products with PFAS “only in electronic components or internal components.” Internal components are parts “designed and intended to not be touched by a person during intended use or handling.” From January 1, 2032, the state bans intentionally added PFAS in any product unless the use is ruled currently unavoidable.³
• Minnesota (MPCA, July 2024): electric versions of listed items, such as an electric wok or a waffle maker with a PFAS nonstick coating, count as cookware. Air fryers count if they include a pan, baking sheet, tray or grill part with an intentionally added PFAS nonstick coating. An electric coffee machine isn’t included “because it does not match well with any of the listed items.”⁴ These slides came out before the 2025 law change described above.^3,4
• California: the AB 1200 disclosure law defines cookware almost the same way and applies to listed chemicals in the handle or any food-contact surface.^11,12 We found no California guidance that names air fryers or other small appliances.

What the 2025 air fryer test found

In early 2025, consumer groups in Europe and Canada tested more than 200 everyday products for PFAS through International Consumer Research & Testing. Air fryers were one category, and every one tested positive.^5,6

The 2025 test picked air fryers that didn’t say PTFE on the label. All six still contained fluorine compounds.

• Six models, all positive. The Danish group reported that all six air fryers contained PFAS. Air fryers and sports tape were the only categories in which every product tested contained PFAS.⁵
• No banned PFAS turned up. Que Choisir’s lab found no PFOA, PFOS or PFHxS. It found fluoropolymers such as PTFE.⁷
• One basket came from Canada. Protégez-Vous sent a Ninja AF101C basket bought in Québec. It contained organic fluorine, with no specific PFAS identified, and the group presumed the source was fluoropolymers.⁶
• What the testers concluded. The Danish group said owners don’t need to replace their air fryers, but recommended looking for one without PFAS when buying new.⁵ Que Choisir called the results reassuring for everyday use and flagged PFAS pollution during manufacturing and disposal as an unresolved concern.⁷

How we know: the test method and its limits

• Who and when: Protégez-Vous joined 11 European consumer organizations in the project. They tested 229 products bought in nine countries from September to December 2024 and analyzed them between January and March 2025.⁶
• How products were picked: testers looked for products sold as nonstick or repellent. They left out products whose labels already said they contained PFAS, such as PTFE or Teflon.⁶
• Two-step lab method: first total organic fluorine, then a targeted search for specific PFAS in any product above 50 mg/kg total organic fluorine.⁶ The FDA notes that total fluorine tests can’t tell PFAS apart from other fluorine-containing substances.¹⁰
• Air fryer models tested: Ninja AF101C, Ninja Foodi AF300EU, Philips NA221/00, Tefal Easy Fry & Grill XXL EY801D, Inventum GF500HLD and Princess 182254.⁷
• What PTFE does in a pan: the FDA says nonstick coatings on pots and pans are polymerized and baked on at very high temperatures, and that studies show negligible amounts of PFAS in the coating can migrate to food.¹⁰ Germany’s BfR says PTFE cookware used as intended isn’t expected to harm health, but it warns against overheating.⁹

What we don’t know

• U.S. models. The tested air fryers were bought in Europe, except one basket bought in Québec.^6,7 We found no U.S. government or independent U.S. test of air fryer baskets.
• Other small appliances. We found no published PFAS test of rice cooker pots, waffle makers, electric griddles or the inside of coffee makers.
• What reaches food in an air fryer. None of the tests we read measured transfer from an air fryer coating into food.
• Minnesota’s latest guidance. MPCA’s current cookware page blocked us this run, so we relied on the statute and MPCA’s 2024 slides.^3,4
• California. Whether AB 1200’s disclosure rules reach air fryer baskets isn’t addressed in anything we read.^11,12
• Brand claims. We didn’t check any brand’s “PFAS-free” air fryer claim for this guide. Ask for the coating name and the test, as above.