Thank you for your excellent analysis. The main problem I had with my Matfer pan was warping on an induction range. I've had partial success with correcting this issue by heating up the pan and then banging out the bulge on the bottom of the pan with a length of 2X4 wood and using a sledge hammer. When I cook with it I heat the pan up slowly so that the differentials in temperatures at different points remain relatively small. I've had some success with this procedure although it takes longer to make my meal. I think that with regulatory bodies in general there have been some political issues where efforts have been made to undermine our confidence in the decisions and opinions of the experts.
I don't own any Matfer pans, but if I did and had never had a problem I would keep using it. My carbon Steel frying pans are extremely inexpensive, purchased from a restaurant supply house. I spent a whopping $52 for both of them, shipping and tax included. Thanks to your videos, I seasoned them properly and have really been enjoying them. My cast iron is hiding in the cabinet pining to be utilized again...
If you are really that worried, go schedule and arsenic poisoning test. Can be done via hair, blood, nail or urine sample. If it's negative, you haven't been exposed to high amount within 6-12months....
Thank you for staying on top of this for us Scott. I would much rather wait for correct answers than them rushing to put out some sort of statement that is full of conjecture and speculation and incorrect answers. Waiting for the correct answers gives me a lot of faith in the company.
Well uncle Scott.. I think you covered everything in a very reasonable way and I hope others will listen to you carefully and understand your reasoning, it will be interesting to see the outcome of this situation, I also have great confidence in how Matfer will deal with the situation no matter what the outcome is, there are also many products we use on a daily basis that probably have the potential for causing harm but we use them every day I'm kind of pointing towards plastics. And not to get too far off topic we do have a portion of society who use every opportunity to exert their environmental perspectives. But, lets see what the actual numbers come out to be for arsenic or whatever else they're looking for. I like the numbers you tossed out there for what is in our drinking water, because things come from the ground who knows in the modern age with highly sophisticated equipment what you will find in any material. 🙂 P.S. if I had this brand of pan I would probably continue to use it. And guess what,... I suppose the rest of the industry creating these products is about to get a thorough examination............
Hi Scott! Thank you for all of the updates. I hope this is everything will be ok. I just bought a pan the beginning of this month, haven’t had a chance to even use it yet 😢. Dawn 😊👍
I also believe that because people have become so sue happy companies have to warn against every little thing to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits. Not saying that this is frivolous...arsenic could be something concerning. I'll be looking forward to your update on this. Thank you!
Scott, thanks for caring so much about this because I know I certainly do not. Perhaps it’s time to accept Chinese made products eh? If Matfer were a Chinese company I wonder if you’d give them this much patience and latitude.
I love that there is a channel dedicated to this stuff #teamdebuyer. In generations to come people will ask "Where were you when you heard about the Matfer Carbon Steel Pan recall?"😂
I don't own any Matfer. However, if I did, I would continue to use it as usual. I believe this situation is similar to how so many things have warning labels in CA, but in the rest of the US there are no particular warnings. I suspect the regulations in France are more stringent than here in the US. Maybe that lot of pans exceeded the French limits (or maybe it was a testing methodology/interpretation error), but apparently they do not exceed the limits in the US. So from a US testing/regulation standpoint, we have no reason to believe they are significantly better or worse than any others.
Hmm. No details supplied for levels of possible contaminants. This brings to question both the French standards accuracy, as well as the US (North American) FDA standards for sloth and lax behavior. This may be why either locale has taken each stance. That said I have a superb old Swedish pan (Smålännignen) which I'm considering to replace and have considered Matfer. So, I'll be "on hold" for a purchase until that's cleared up.
I like cooking with a good hood to remove smoke etc from the house. I feel better about using gas with a good hood that exhaust all of the smoke and bad stuff.
I wonder if they tested a pan that was washed well after opening or if they tested straight out of the box. Curious to know more but I do wonder if it will be a everything causes cancer in California level of risk
I'm more confused now. I thought Matfer said that pans sold in the US were not affected, I took this to mean that the non-compliant, recalled pans made from Jan '22 to Sept '23 were known to have not be shipped to the US? They were shipped outside of the EU however, because I have a pan from batch 1104670 in the UK.
It's too bad it takes so many PR departments to send out information about incidents like this. That seems to be eroding the trust that many of us presumably had in Matfer...
Well, for you to set your Matfer pans aside pending more information is no big deal, since you have so many other carbon steel pans. My Matfer is my only carbon steel pan, other than my wok. But no Debuyere, etc. So, for the rest of us it is a bigger dilemma, particularly if the full answers don't come for a while.
I agree with the comment that Matfer’s current response doesn’t generate a lot of confidence. What Uncle Scott read sounded like a bunch of corporate-speak.
While matfer are tested in france... and as you already pointed out that their health codes etc are a lot higher than other parts of the world. There maybe nothing wrong with their production processes and its the source of the steel that is the issue ie where is their source steel is made. If its from china what quality controls exist over there to check up on the steel from a heath and safety perspective would think not as many as france. But then the steel plate would the manufacturing company could just be selling plate that can be used in general production and not in food grade items. So the Alice and wonderland story will probably be getting deeper before they come out with a fact this is what we know type situation and the damage at that stage to matfer is going to be significant financially. Makes me wander what other carbon steel pans regardless of where they made probably have leaching issues of potentially toxic chemicals.
returned mine even before I used. Don't have time to deal with their issues. Purchased a less expensive Merten & Storck quality Carbon Steel pre-seasoned pan for half the cost and it works flawlessly.
Even though I've only cooked hamburgers in my 12-inch carbon skillet it has never never turned black even though I properly seasoned it.. every time I cook a hamburger on it it takes the seasoning right off down to the bare metal.. I learned about this carbon steel skillet from you last April and I ordered one May 22nd and I just spoke to Amazon and they are going to email the seller that if it's recalled in France because of toxicity that it should be recalled in America since it is made in france. If it's toxic in France it's toxic in America.. they told me that if I don't get a response from the seller that they would start an A to Z claim to get my money back. I do not feel confident ever using this again. I will use my ceramic coated iron Le Creuset skillet from this day foward...
I went to Matfer Carbon Steel to have a safer way of cooking. Now this possible recall, I just can't believe that they use a different metal make up than the one's in France. As a former sales & marketing rep, this is crazy long time to convey a proper message to their customers. I now have second thoughts about ever buying anything from Matfer again...
The seasoning on the pan, which is a layer of carbon bound to the surface, will protect against the vast majority of any potential contamination. It is true that utensils will scratch the seasoning, exposing bare metal, but the scratches are so small that any contamination would be less than a measurable amount.
Maybe but that’s an assumption unless you have evidence then please share. And seasoning can come off pans and happens to the best of us. I don’t want to be a squeeze of lemon into the wrong pan away from arsenic.
@@timjohnson3913 What seasoning is and how it works is not an assumption. You can do your own research to learn about seasoning of cookware. To get you started, here is the Wikipedia article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasoning_(cookware) Arsenic poisoning is not a subtle thing. If anyone had gotten acute arsenic poisoning from a pan, it would be obvious. A scratched pan cannot lead to chronic arsenic poisoning because normal maintenance covers the scratches. Again, you can Google "arsenic poisoning" for yourself and learn.
@@loyeyoung1068 “Will protect against the vast majority of any potential contamination” is the assumption you are making. That isn’t the role of seasoning. The role of seasoning for carbon steel is to give a pan a nonstick surface and prevent rusting. Unless you have evidence of contamination protection particular to arsenic, then you are making an assumption.
Irresponsible not to suggest people stop using their product until clear answers are forthcoming. Also, PR and Marketing? For a safety issue sounds like they’re more worried about THEIR the safety of THEIR bottom line than their customers’ safety. Unbelievable!
Would like to understand how much arsenic. There is naturally occurring arsenic in apples, rice especially high in brown rice. As they say, «The dose makes the poison. » there are so many standard and they are so different in each country. I would suggest that it is going to take more than a week because independent testing, if done correctly, will take time.
@@timjohnson3913 cannot agree or disagree without having the data from the test but you would be surprised at the level of arsenic in brown rice. “average concentrations of inorganic arsenic are 92 ppb in white rice, 154 ppb in brown rice, 104 ppb in infants’ dry white rice cereal, and 119 ppb in infants’ dry-brown rice cereal”. This is naturally occurring. They are obviously not looking for it. My point was that whether or not is is an issue depends on the amounts they found. Without that data point, we cannot judge. Also, without understanding on how the test was designed we cannot infer much. Was it controlled? Was the design sound? Was it done under normal conditions? Would have been good if they tested multiple brands to get a more complete data set. It seems that this was not done in a very scientific way
@@isabelab6851 have you read the report of the governing agency that initiated the recall? If not, then everything you say about the low quality of their testing procedures and lack of control is just speculation vomit.
If my business reputation was at stake I’d be moving so much faster . I work for a global multinational corporation . If something like this was happening unless we had something we were trying to soften the blow of we would have taken so long to put out a statement it’s crazy
I love my Matfers, but am giving them a rest, until more is known. I guess worst case is I have to throw them out and replace them with De Buyers. The horror!!! 😁
Until there is verifiable proof that people have died from arsenic leaching out of Matfer pants, I will continue to use my pan. I worked very hard to get it to that deep nonstick patina.
