Made In cookware is free of PFAS, PFOA, and PTFE across all its product lines, based on third-party lab testing conducted in 2025. The brand uses traditional materials like stainless steel, carbon steel, enameled cast iron, and a ceramic-based nonstick coating, all of which avoid the synthetic chemicals most people worry about. That said, “non-toxic” isn’t a simple yes-or-no label. Each material in the Made In lineup has its own safety profile worth understanding.
Third-Party Testing Results
Made In partnered with Light Labs, an accredited third-party testing facility, to screen its products for PFAS, the group of persistent chemicals commonly called “forever chemicals.” Every product line passed all 30 tests for PFAS contamination. That includes stainless clad, CeramiClad (their ceramic nonstick), carbon steel, enameled cast iron, and tabletop plateware. The testing was completed between February and September 2025.
This matters because PFAS are the primary safety concern with cookware today. Traditional nonstick pans use PTFE coatings that can release toxic fumes when overheated to around 500°F, a temperature that’s easy to reach if you preheat an empty pan or forget one on the stove. Made In’s ceramic nonstick alternative avoids PTFE entirely.
Stainless Steel: Safe but Not Inert
Made In’s stainless clad cookware is manufactured in Italy and the United States. It uses the same grades of stainless steel found throughout the food industry, grades 304 and 316, which contain 16 to 20% chromium and 8 to 14% nickel depending on the grade.
Stainless steel is widely considered safe, but it does leach small amounts of nickel and chromium into food, especially acidic foods cooked for long periods. A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that tomato sauce cooked for six hours in stainless steel contained up to 26 times more nickel and 7 times more chromium than sauce cooked without any metal contact. In a new saucepan, a single serving of tomato sauce contained 483 micrograms of nickel, nearly half the tolerable daily upper limit of 1,000 micrograms.
The good news: leaching drops significantly after repeated use. By the tenth cooking cycle, nickel levels fell to about 88 micrograms per serving. So if you’re cooking acidic dishes like tomato sauce regularly, your pan’s seasoning history matters. New stainless steel pans leach the most. If you have a nickel sensitivity or allergy, this is worth keeping in mind, though for most people the amounts involved are well within safe limits for everyday cooking.
Carbon Steel: Simple Composition
Made In’s carbon steel pans are manufactured in Sweden. The material itself is about 99% iron and 1% carbon, with no synthetic coatings, making it one of the simplest cookware materials available.
The nonstick surface on carbon steel comes from seasoning, a process where you heat a thin layer of high smoke-point oil (canola, grapeseed, or avocado) until it polymerizes into a hard, slick coating. This creates a natural barrier between the pan and your food. No PFAS, no PTFE, no plastic compounds. You can season on the stovetop over medium heat or in the oven at 450°F for 30 to 60 minutes.
Carbon steel can leach trace amounts of iron into food, which is generally considered a benefit rather than a risk. For people with iron overload conditions, it’s worth noting, but for the general population, a bit of dietary iron from your pan is harmless.
Enameled Cast Iron: A Protective Glass Layer
Made In’s enameled cast iron is manufactured in France. The enamel coating is essentially a layer of glass fused to the cast iron surface, which prevents the iron from making direct contact with food. This eliminates both the iron leaching you’d get from bare cast iron and the need for seasoning.
The enamel itself passed all PFAS tests. The main safety consideration with enameled cast iron is physical: if the enamel chips or cracks, the exposed iron underneath can rust and leach into food. Inspect your enamel periodically, and retire any piece with significant chipping on the cooking surface.
CeramiClad: The Nonstick Alternative
Made In’s CeramiClad line, manufactured in Italy and the United States, is their answer to traditional nonstick. It uses a ceramic-based coating instead of PTFE, which means it doesn’t carry the risk of toxic fume release at high temperatures. It passed all 30 PFAS tests.
Ceramic nonstick coatings do have a shorter functional lifespan than PTFE. The nonstick performance tends to degrade faster with use, so you’ll likely replace a ceramic nonstick pan sooner than a traditional one. That’s a durability trade-off, not a safety one.
Copper Cookware: Lined for Safety
Made In also sells copper cookware, and here the safety question is more nuanced. Copper itself is an essential trace mineral, but ingesting too much of it causes nausea, stomach cramps, and vomiting in the short term. Repeated overexposure can lead to liver damage.
Modern copper cookware, including Made In’s, is lined with a non-reactive metal (typically stainless steel) that acts as a barrier between the copper and your food. As long as that lining is intact, copper doesn’t contact your food at all. The risk comes from unlined copper or pans where the lining has worn through. If you own copper cookware, check the interior regularly for any spots where the lining looks thin or missing.
Where Each Line Is Made
Made In emphasizes manufacturing in countries with established cookware traditions and quality control standards:
- Stainless clad: Italy and the United States
- CeramiClad: Italy and the United States
- Carbon steel: Sweden
- Enameled cast iron: France
- Tabletop plateware: United Kingdom
The Practical Bottom Line
Made In cookware avoids the chemicals that generate the most concern in the cookware space: PFAS, PFOA, and PTFE. Their third-party lab results back that up across every product line. The materials they use, stainless steel, carbon steel, enameled cast iron, ceramic coatings, and lined copper, are all well-established and considered safe for everyday cooking.
The nuances come down to how you use each material. Avoid long acidic cooks in new stainless steel if you’re sensitive to nickel. Keep your carbon steel seasoned. Don’t use copper cookware with a damaged lining. These aren’t unique to Made In; they apply to any cookware using these materials. Within its category, Made In’s testing and manufacturing transparency put it on the safer end of the spectrum.