“PFAS-free” on the box cost one brand $2.5M. Who actually publishes proof?
PTFE is a PFAS, so “PFOA-free” tells you nothing. For every brand we record the coating, the claim, and whether anyone has published a third-party test that backs it. We don’t test cookware — we index the record and link the source.
What each verdict means
A verdict describes the state of the published evidence for a marketing claim — not whether a pan is safe. An allegation is not a finding; a settlement is not an admission.
A published third-party result backs the claim — brand-commissioned-and-published lab work, or independent press/lab testing.
The material is stated plainly with no lab-worthy claim — bare cast iron, stainless, or PTFE that admits it’s PTFE.
“Non-toxic”-style claims with nothing published behind them. May be true — there’s just no citable proof.
A public record — court docket, regulator notice, or published independent test — disagrees with a claim.
Every brand: claim vs proof
Showing … of … brands · sorted by strength of published evidence · last reviewed 2026-07
| Brand / line | Coating | PTFE? (a PFAS) |
Headline claim | Verdict | Proof / record |
|---|
A verdict describes the state of the published evidence, not whether a pan is safe. We do not test cookware; we index published third-party results and public records, with attribution, and we make no health claims. Some product links are affiliate links — if you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no cost to you. Links appear only on rows whose claims carry published proof (or bare materials with nothing to prove) — never on unverified or contradicted rows, and they never change a verdict. Click any brand for the claim-by-claim breakdown.
Why this table is different
“PFOA-free” is not “PFAS-free”
PFOA left US cookware production a decade ago — the claim is true of nearly every pan and tells you nothing. PTFE itself is a PFAS. The label move that hides this is the first thing our table makes visible. The label trick →
Proof beats promises — from anyone
A $12 TV-brand pan sits in our verified tier because Consumer Reports tested it clean; a premium brand sits in unverified because it publishes nothing. Who commissioned the test matters less than whether it’s published and citable.
We don’t test. We index.
Labs, courts and regulators already generate the record — published test results, dockets, Prop 65 notices. Almost nobody lines them up against the marketing. We do, with every source linked. Our method →
Is your cookware actually tested?
The claim-vs-proof question, brand by brand — what the published record really says.