Recommendation for air fryers that are safe to use when you own a bird

borb12

I was thinking about getting an air fryer. Unfortunately I have just learnt that most are harmful to pet birds. Teflon/PFTE ones give off a gas toxic to birds. Can any bird owners recommend any (probably ceramic) ones that are ok? Have googled but not much luck as still shows ones with Teflon/PFTE

ThisIsWeird

I have an air-fryer and also own a bird. No adverse issues so far. In fact, here's the bird now. "Oi! Love! Chuck some more chips on, will ya?"

I was going to continue in this flippant vein, but just carried out a Google on this issue. Blimey! I did not expect that.

Spookily enough, I did buy a large Llivekit air-fryer recently, and this has bare SS insides, and metal trays and shelves. No sign of any non-stick coating anywhere. (Apart from the bottom juice-catching tray).

One of them:

ThisIsWeird

From what I can see, the types with pull-out pans will almost certainly be Teflon-coated. So, I suspect your best bet will be to look at 'oven' types, with pull-down doors. These will tend to be larger, but that's no bad thing. Look for ones with SS insides, and you should be 90% there.

12 litre size are around £85.

Alderbank

PTFE is inert at normal temperatures. However if heated to above 280 degrees C (which is very, very hot) it starts to decompose. It is those decomposition products which can harm birds. Heating to that temperature of course eventually destroys the non-stick coating as well.
My air fryer has a maximum temp of 200C. in practice I never use it above 180C. I would be surprised if yours goes above 220C and I am certain that the thermostat will not let it get anywhere near 250C. In fact I would be amazed if the heating element was powerful enough to get near that temperature.

So I don't think the combination of PTFE and heat will be enough to harm your bird.

The same can't be said though for eg. non-stick frying pans. There is nothing to stop them heating to dangerously high temperature on the hob, indeed the common practice of putting the pan on high heat before adding oil or food probably does release toxic fumes. Also some domestic irons with PTFE sole plates have been found to get hot enough to release fumes.

But not thermostatic air fryers.