“Like any material intended for food contact, no baking mold should release substances towards the food during cooking”immediately indicates the consumer defense association UFC-Que Choisir in a communicated published this 1er December 2022. But with the approach of the holidays when molds and dishes will be out for the confection of logs and cakes, it does not seem that this is the case. UFC-Que Choisir has selected 29 different models of silicone molds marketed in stores and on the Internet and then analyzed the evolution of the quantities of substances emitted during three successive firings in the oven.
The results obtained are frightening: “most molds migrate to food in high quantities“, continues the press release. In total, 23 molds out of 29 are judged “insecure“ by the consumer association. Some exceed the maximum level of toxic substances provided for by French regulations, and for other mussels, the quantities of substances increase as cooking progresses. Thus, the Tupperware brand mold would emit 15 times more substances at the 3e cooking only at the first.
Worst six mussels are even totally to be avoided according to UFC-Que Choisir, in particular those of the Carrefour Home and Aliexpress brands, which contain octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, a substance considered to be of extreme concern at European level.
What are the molds to keep? “All silicone molds are not necessarily to be avoided“, nuances the UFC-Que Choisir. According to the association’s test, the products of the Ikea and Tefal brands offer the consumer mussels that transmit almost no substances harmful to health to food.
Completely obsolete regulations
The current regulations concerning these products would now be completely obsolete for two distinct reasons:
- At the French level, the regulations “is more than 30 years old and it does not define a maximum migration, i.e. a limit for the substances of most concern that we have identified in our test“, says Olivier Andrault, food project manager at UFC-Que Choisir at France info.
- At European level, in the name of the free movement of goods, “it is completely legal that these molds made in these countries (where the regulations are more lax than in France, editor’s note) be marketed freely in France”he continues.
Hence the request fora referral to the repression of fraud (DGCCRF) so that it carries out reinforced controls” and asks the European Commission “to take up the problem and put in place regulations that are truly protective for consumers”.
What health hazards? In the consumer, the consumption of these toxic substances can have the consequence of increasing the risk of cancer, genetic mutations or can alter reproductive functions.
Sources:
- UFC-Que Choisir test on silicone moulds: too many harmful substances in the cakes, UFC-Que Choisir, December 1, 2022
- A “fairly huge proportion” of silicone molds is considered unsafe” for health, warns UC-Que Choisir, France infoDecember 1, 2022
