Caked and charred food scraps
Good question! In this section, Health Net is looking for answers to nagging questions. This time: is it unhealthy to heat food in a dirty oven?
It will probably happen to you that you forgot to clean the oven after a cooking session. The next time you turn it on to preheat and you will soon smell it: baked-on and charred food remains. You still put your lasagna in it, but how unhealthy is that really?
PAHs
By heating food, harmful substances can be formed, such as PAHs. Another example is acrylamide. This is a substance that can be formed when you roast, bake, grill or deep-fry starchy products such as potatoes and grains above 120 degrees Celsius. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded in 2015 that acrylamide may increase the risk of cancer in humans. Cooking does not produce acrylamide.
In theory, these types of substances can be created when caked-on food remains are reheated in the oven. And that could possibly end up in your oven dish. But whether these are worrying quantities in this case, professor of toxicology Ivonne Rietjens of Wageningen University has doubts in the Volkskrant. “That does not alter the fact that it is better to avoid what can be avoided.”
Bacteria and fungi
Food safety expert Wieke van der Vossen of the Nutrition Center also mentions bacteria and fungi as a possible risk. “Fungi in particular can form spores that spread further.”
Van der Vossen is also nuanced about this in the Volkskrant. “These are risks that can arise, but how often it occurs in practice is unknown. When it comes to food safety risks from the oven, I think of two other risks: not cooking it completely or letting it burn.”
It is therefore unclear how unhealthy it is. Also because no research has been done. It is therefore best to keep your oven clean. Use baking paper and/or large oven dishes and prevent it from getting dirty anyway.
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