Cooking utensils can add toxins to food

Ludhiana, Nov 29 (UNI) Metals and inert plastic tend to enter into food when cooked in metallic and non-stick finish utensils according to research studies at Punjab Agricultural University's (PAU) department of Family Resource Management.

The department researchers -- Rupa Bakhshi, Moninder Sidhu and Pushpinder Sandhu, who have studied the risks in cookwares have observed that aluminum utensils are a popular choice of housewives when choosing cooking vessels. These are light in weight, good conductors of heat and cheap.

Experiments show that during cooking, aluminium dissolves very easily, particularly, when the utensils are either wornout or pitted. This holds true of pots and pans. The amount of aluminium absorbed in food is directly proportional to either duration of cooking or storage of cooked food in an aluminium utensil.

Housewives or those who love cooking should remember that acidic foods, tomatoes and citric products absorb maximum amount of aluminium.

According to the three researchers the watch-word is: keep your aluminium cookwares in good condition, minimise cooking time and avoid cooking and storing acidic foods in these. Research shows that aluminum contents increase three times when vegetables are cooked in aluminium skillet (karahi) and so do other elements- chromium, lead, cadmium and nickel.

Then what is the way out ? Anodized aluminum utensils. Pots and pans made of this metal are good conductors of heat, have a hard, durable, scratch-resistant and easy to clean surface. Even the leaching of aluminum into food gets reduced when cooked in anodized aluminum utensils.

The reaserchers, Ms Bakhshi, Ms Sidhu and Ms Sandhu, who studied the iron pans and skillets, observed that these are popular in the kitchen as these are strong and heat evenly. These utensils also increases iron in the cooked food, but large amounts of iron in food could be poisonous.

The researches have advised housewives to keep iron pans well coated with ''unsalted cooking oil to prevent rust''. Do not wash these iron pans with strong detergent or scoured, they have warned.

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