{"id":6682,"date":"2026-05-19T17:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=6682"},"modified":"2026-05-19T17:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:33:16","slug":"a-new-lawsuit-about-pfas-and-other-forever-chemicals-is-heating-up-the-cookware-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=6682","title":{"rendered":"A new lawsuit about PFAS and other ‘forever chemicals’ is heating up the cookware industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Two of the largest cookware conglomerates in the world are suing a six-year-old startup over claims of false advertising in regard to non-stick cookware.<\/p>\n

Groupe SEB USA (the maker of T-Fal and All-Clad) and Meyer Corporation (Farberware, Rachael Ray, Anolon) filed suit against Caraway Home on Feb. 13 in the Southern District of New York, accusing the ceramic cookware brand of false advertising, commercial disparagement, trade libel, and unjust enrichment. <\/p>\n

The 34-page complaint takes issue with Caraway\u2019s marketing, which characterizes PTFE-coated cookware (the dominant non-stick material used by both plaintiffs) as \u201ctoxic,\u201d cancer-causing, and laced with \u201cforever chemicals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit\u2019s core<\/p>\n

SEB and Meyer allege that Caraway, which launched in 2019, built its brand from day one on a \u201cfalse premise:\u201d that PTFE-coated cookware makes consumers sick. <\/p>\n

Among the specific advertisements cited include social media posts labeling competitors\u2019 pans as \u201ctoxic cookware\u201d that will \u201cfill the air in your home with harmful, toxic fumes and forever chemicals that you ingest, such as PFAS and PTFE;\u201d emails urging consumers to \u201ctoss your toxic pans;\u201d and a website claim about traditional non-stick pans releasing \u201cdangerous chemicals\u201d that \u201center our body and take decades to leave, potentially causing health risks like cancer or respiratory issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs argue these claims are not only false but knowingly so, pointing to a 2025 ruling by the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau, which concluded that Caraway \u201cdid not meet its burden of providing a reasonable basis for claims that competing non-stick cookware is toxic.\u201d <\/p>\n

Caraway agreed to comply with the NAD\u2019s recommendation to pull certain ads, but according to the complaint, many remained live and new ones appeared in January, just weeks before the suit was filed.<\/p>\n

The complaint also argues that PTFE is \u201cchemically inert, practically insoluble, non-bioavailable, and non-toxic;\u201d that the FDA authorizes its use in food-contact coatings; and that PTFE degradation cannot even theoretically occur below 500\u00b0 Fahrenheit\u2014a temperature unachievable in normal cooking. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has likewise rejected calls for warning labels on PTFE-based cookware.<\/p>\n

The complaint claims a hyperlink on Caraway\u2019s website labeled \u201cAmerican Cancer Society\u201d did not actually go to the ACS at all, but to an unrelated American Academy of Pediatrics press release that \u201cnowhere suggests that PTFE-coated pans cause cancer.\u201d The real ACS, the complaint notes, \u201cstates that there are no proven risks to humans using PTFE cookware.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis complaint is based on years of examples of false advertising used to scare consumers with
misleading information when it is well known that non-stick cookware is safe and poses no
health risks under normal conditions,\u201d said Carmine Zarlenga, a partner with Mayer Brown. \u201cWe
will present these facts to a jury to end these unfair and deceptive marketing practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Caraway says<\/p>\n

Jordan Nathan, Caraway\u2019s founder and CEO, said it\u2019s \u201ca meritless lawsuit\u201d and characterized it as \u201ca tale as old as time, really a business tactic to regain market share.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe funny, or hypocritical, thing we see in the suit is, if you look at their ceramic claims or marketing, they actually say the same stuff that we do,\u201d Nathan told Fortune. \u201cThey call it healthy, made without PFAS.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added that Caraway has \u201cnever called out any of their brand names\u201d in advertising, describing the suit as a \u201cbullying attempt\u201d to slow a challenger brand that has eroded market share.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you look across a number of categories, whether it\u2019s moving to organic within food or removing sulfates from shampoo or switching from polyester to organic cotton, this is what the consumer wants today.\u201d Eight U.S. states have moved to ban PFAS in cookware.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for us, we really want to shine a light on how big cookware is trying to hold back progress within the category,\u201d Nathan said.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s at steak<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction barring Caraway from making further claims that PTFE-based cookware is toxic, corrective advertising, and disgorgement of Caraway\u2019s profits. <\/p>\n

They argue the reputational damage to PTFE-based products may already be irreversible: \u201cA sizable portion of the public has been permanently convinced of the fictitious dangers of PTFE-coated cookware and bakeware,\u201d the complaint states.<\/p>\n

Nathan, for his part, says the company is launching a campaign this week to fight against the claims. \u201cThis is a lot bigger than Caraway itself,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just want to provide customers with the information for them to make their own decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groupe SEB did not respond to Fortune\u2019s request for comment. <\/p>\n

#lawsuit #PFAS #chemicals #heating #cookware #industry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two of the largest cookware conglomerates in the world are suing a six-year-old startup over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[245],"tags":[5794,12462,12292,3833,4035,12463,600,713,4117,12464],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}