‘This is what the consumer wants’: A new lawsuit about PFAS and other ‘forever chemicals’ is heating up the cookware industry

Groupe SEB USA (the maker of T-Fal and All-Clad) and Meyer Corporation (Farberware, Rachael Ray, Anolon) filed suit against Caraway Home on Feb. 13 in the Southern District of New York, accusing the ceramic cookware brand of false advertising, commercial disparagement, trade libel, and unjust enrichment.

The 34-page complaint takes issue with Caraway’s marketing, which characterizes PTFE-coated cookware (the dominant non-stick material used by both plaintiffs) as “toxic,” cancer-causing, and laced with “forever chemicals.”

The lawsuit’s core

SEB and Meyer allege that Caraway, which launched in 2019, built its brand from day one on a “false premise:” that PTFE-coated cookware makes consumers sick.

Among the specific advertisements cited include social media posts labeling competitors’ pans as “toxic cookware” that will “fill the air in your home with harmful, toxic fumes and forever chemicals that you ingest, such as PFAS and PTFE;” emails urging consumers to “toss your toxic pans;” and a website claim about traditional non-stick pans releasing “dangerous chemicals” that “enter our body and take decades to leave, potentially causing health risks like cancer or respiratory issues.”

The plaintiffs argue these claims are not only false but knowingly so, pointing to a 2025 ruling by the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau, which concluded that Caraway “did not meet its burden of providing a reasonable basis for claims that competing non-stick cookware is toxic.”

Caraway agreed to comply with the NAD’s recommendation to pull certain ads, but according to the complaint, many remained live and new ones appeared in January, just weeks before the suit was filed.

The complaint also argues that PTFE is “chemically inert, practically insoluble, non-bioavailable, and non-toxic;” that the FDA authorizes its use in food-contact coatings; and that PTFE degradation cannot even theoretically occur below 500° Fahrenheit—a temperature unachievable in normal cooking. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has likewise rejected calls for warning labels on PTFE-based cookware.

The complaint claims a hyperlink on Caraway’s website labeled “American Cancer Society” did not actually go to the ACS at all, but to an unrelated American Academy of Pediatrics press release that “nowhere suggests that PTFE-coated pans cause cancer.” The real ACS, the complaint notes, “states that there are no proven risks to humans using PTFE cookware.”

“This complaint is based on years of examples of false advertising used to scare consumers with
misleading information when it is well known that non-stick cookware is safe and poses no
health risks under normal conditions,” said Carmine Zarlenga, a partner with Mayer Brown. “We
will present these facts to a jury to end these unfair and deceptive marketing practices.”

What Caraway says

Jordan Nathan, Caraway’s founder and CEO, said it’s “a meritless lawsuit” and characterized it as “a tale as old as time, really a business tactic to regain market share.”

“The funny, or hypocritical, thing we see in the suit is, if you look at their ceramic claims or marketing, they actually say the same stuff that we do,” Nathan told Fortune. “They call it healthy, made without PFAS.”

He added that Caraway has “never called out any of their brand names” in advertising, describing the suit as a “bullying attempt” to slow a challenger brand that has eroded market share.

“As you look across a number of categories, whether it’s moving to organic within food or removing sulfates from shampoo or switching from polyester to organic cotton, this is what the consumer wants today.” Eight U.S. states have moved to ban PFAS in cookware.

“I think for us, we really want to shine a light on how big cookware is trying to hold back progress within the category,” Nathan said.

What’s at steak

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction barring Caraway from making further claims that PTFE-based cookware is toxic, corrective advertising, and disgorgement of Caraway’s profits.

They argue the reputational damage to PTFE-based products may already be irreversible: “A sizable portion of the public has been permanently convinced of the fictitious dangers of PTFE-coated cookware and bakeware,” the complaint states.

Nathan, for his part, says the company is launching a campaign this week to fight against the claims. “This is a lot bigger than Caraway itself,” he said. “We just want to provide customers with the information for them to make their own decisions.”

Groupe SEB did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.