Metal utensils or cleaning pads can easily scratch off chips of the Teflon coating responsible for nonstick cookware — and the perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which was initially used in processing Teflon, has been linked to cancer in lab mice. However, ingesting flakes of Teflon that find their way into your food will not kill you.

Fortunately, most nonstick pan makers have now phased out the use of PFOA in their Teflon, and small bits of Teflon can easily pass through your digestive tract. According to Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office for Science & Society, when it comes to toxins, the dosage is the key factor in poisoning.

Schwartz even conducted an experiment with a heavily scratched cooking pan to analyze its PFOA levels and it didn’t produce anywhere near the PFOA levels that would be needed to cause an adverse effect in even a 20-pound child. Schwartz confirmed that the “exposure to PFOA from a Teflon coated pan is insignificant.”