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How safe are iron and carbonsteel pans? Or can they be misused making them unsafe?

For instance, have food safety authorities already reviewed this? Is there a regulation or at least a published opinion from an official body? For example, something like this opinion the European Food Safety Authority has published on PTFE (like Teflon) and PTFE coated cooking ware.

In order to have iron pans and carbonsteel to be non-stick one creates a patina layer on them by seasoning it. That is, burning fats and oils in thin layers onto the surface of the pan, creating a black layer of pyrolised and oxydized hydrocarbons (and probably all sorts of chemicals). (And it also changes the metal structure of the surface)

pan with patina

How is it with this 'burnt' patina layer? Is that layer safe? Or is it typically safe, but can it be unsafe when not properly done?

The specific section in the EFSA article is "3.1.3.1. Migration from food contact materials, including non-stick coatings used on cookware"

The article is EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM), et al. "Risk to human health related to the presence of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and perfluorooctanoic acid in food." EFSA journal 16.12 (2018): e05194.

Sextus Empiricus
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    The close reason is not spot on. This is not a question about nutrition or medical advice. It is a question about food safety. – Sextus Empiricus Oct 24 '21 at 18:44
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    A very shorthand way of determine if it is a safety or a health question: if you are asking about the danger of landing in hospital within 2-3 days of eating, and the hospital could potentially trace your condition back to the portion of food that caused it, that's food safety. It usually applies to things like getting an e.coli infection from improperly stored food, but could also include things like "I ate lead paint". Agencies like the USDA publish exact guidelines to determine the difference between "safe" and "not safe" and we can tell you what they include. But if you are asking... – rumtscho Oct 24 '21 at 19:42
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    ... about possibly getting some kind of long-term health problem down the road, as in "did studies show that this might eventually be connected to more cancer", then we consider it a health question and it is a major closing reason for us. As far as I can tell, you are asking the second type of question. But if it is the first, you can reword so it is clear that you are asking if the USDA has issued a warning that cast iron pans are not considered food-safe and has forbidden their use. – rumtscho Oct 24 '21 at 19:43
  • @rumtscho I would strongly disagree that food safety is just microbial safety, physical safety, acute toxicity or things that get you directly in the hospital within 2 to 3 days after consuming the unsafe food. But fair enough, I would accept if food safety issues like chronic toxicity, carcinogeneity, mutagenicity (which are *risks* associated with foods and not about nutrition or good health) are considered a part of food safety that is off-topic. – Sextus Empiricus Oct 24 '21 at 20:24
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    @SextusEmpiricus and they are off-topic. This community has decided that we will not venture into that area, for various reasons. – Stephie Oct 24 '21 at 21:10
  • @rumtscho I have edited the question to relate it more strongly with descriptions of food safety as reported before by the EFSA when dealing with Teflon pans. (And my question is whether there is similar information/research/knowledge for iron pans. I did not make the question like you suggested 'whether the EFSA/USDA have issued warnings', because I know that this question has not been dealt with yet by EFSA or USDA, but that doesn't say if and why it is safe). But I have started to doubt whether, even when on the edge of being on topic, this question might be answered here. – Sextus Empiricus Oct 24 '21 at 21:18
  • Thank you for making the effort to edit the question. I removed the last parts which are problematic for our scope, and I am reopening. We will still have to follow our usual policy and remove answers which are not within our very restrictive scope of food safety. Especially any answers which are not based on an official statement of a regulatory authority are removed from questions with this tag. – rumtscho Oct 25 '21 at 06:59
  • As an aside, I looked into the contents of our food safety tag info, to see if we have a definition. We don't, but we have linked the Wikipedia article, which gives a pretty good feel for what falls under food safety and what doesn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safety. – rumtscho Oct 25 '21 at 07:04
  • @rumtscho but that wiki sketches a view of food safety that includes risks due to chronic exposure and not just acute risks. – Sextus Empiricus Oct 25 '21 at 07:10
  • @rumtscho I have changed *"Have food safety authorities already reviewed this?"* into *"For instance, have food safety authorities already reviewed this?"*. There is not much research on this topic, such that food safety authorities have not published information about this in some official form. In this strict form the question is easily answered with 'no, there are no official regulations or opinions published by food safety authorities'.... – Sextus Empiricus Oct 25 '21 at 07:16
  • ... But if food safety authorities had already something published about this, then I would not have needed to ask this question. The problem is that it is difficult to find anything on this topic. There is information about Teflon pans and the coatings, but there is no information about the seasoning coating on the iron pans. I have looked for it but did not find anything and that's why I ask the community. An answer like 'it is safe', or 'it is unknown', with the argument 'because authorities have nothing written about it' would be unsatisfying.... – Sextus Empiricus Oct 25 '21 at 07:20
  • I understand that this is very unsatisfying for you, but we stick indeed only to what has been reviewed and resulted in some kind of official statement. If they have not, then the question will have to remain unanswered. – rumtscho Oct 25 '21 at 07:21
  • .... Looking into your meta-pages I have found that there is a bit of reluctance to have questions about health or safety that can not be answered without resources from official food safety authorities. That might mean that it is not 'off-topic' but instead something like 'too broad' or 'unfit for the platform'. I am not sure whether there are close reasons like that on this platform, but I would not mind if this question get's closed for such reason. (rather that 'it is difficult to be answered here' than an unsatisfying answer) – Sextus Empiricus Oct 25 '21 at 07:23
  • Interestingly, while I can find papers on seasoned cast iron and microbial safety, I don't see any on the toxicity or lack thereof for the seasoning itself. Arguably it's just burnt oil and its therefore no more unhealthful than any other burnt oil, but I can't find a reliable source for that. – FuzzyChef Oct 26 '21 at 05:59
  • @FuzzyChef I believe there is also a little research on the leaking of iron into the food. But indeed, nothing about the patina layer. – Sextus Empiricus Oct 26 '21 at 06:28

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