For 3 years, every morning I drank from a milk frother. Until I discovered what was on the inside.

How it started

I’m Robin. Every morning I’ve been drinking cappuccino for years. Nothing special, just a ritual. Pull an espresso, froth milk, done.

Three years ago I bought a new milk frother. Black, matte, with a knob and little icons on the front. It looked great next to my coffee machine. I used it twice a day, sometimes more on weekends.

The milk frother I used daily for 3 years

After about a year, I noticed I was getting less foam. The milk started sticking faster. And when I looked into the jug, I saw little scratches on the inside. Spots where that black layer had gotten thinner.

I thought: well, wear and tear. Makes sense. Time for a new one.

What I didn’t know back then: that "wear" didn’t just disappear. It could have ended up somewhere. Somewhere I’d rather not think about.

The discovery

It started with a conversation at a birthday party. A friend said she’d thrown out all her pans. "Because of PFAS," she said, as if I’d understand. She’d seen a Zembla episode about it.

I nodded politely. No idea what she was talking about. That evening I googled it.

PFAS. An umbrella term for chemicals used in non-stick coatings. They’re also called "forever chemicals". And they’re not only in pans. Also in milk frothers, rice cookers, air fryers. Anywhere there’s a smooth, dark coating that keeps food or milk from sticking.

That smooth, dark layer on the inside of a milk frother? That’s the coating.

I walked to the kitchen. Grabbed my milk frother. Looked inside.

That layer was in there too. On the inside. Right where hot milk spun against it every morning at 800 revolutions per minute.

What I discovered that evening

• The non-stick coating in many milk frothers contains PFAS substances
• Heat can speed up the breakdown of that coating (milk is heated to 65–70 degrees)
• The spinning whisk can slowly damage the coating, allowing microparticles to come loose
• Those particles can end up in your milk—and therefore in your body
• “PFOA-free” doesn’t mean “PFAS-free.” There are more than 10,000 different PFAS substances

Source: RIVM, European Commission (see sources at the bottom).

What is PFAS, exactly?

PFAS stands for poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances. It’s a group of thousands of man-made chemicals that have been used since the 1950s.

That nickname “forever chemicals” isn’t for nothing: PFAS hardly breaks down. Not in nature. Not in your body. Once it’s in, it stays around for a long time.

Where is it found?

• Non-stick coatings on pans, milk frothers, and air fryers
• Water-repellent clothing and shoes
• Food packaging (pizza boxes, baking paper)
• Cosmetics and toothpaste
• Drinking water in certain regions

Source: RIVM, “PFAS: what is it and what does it do?” (see sources at the bottom).

The thing is: most of those products don’t come into daily contact with hot liquids that you then drink. A milk frother does.

So why do manufacturers use it?

Simple: it’s cheap and it works. PFAS keeps milk from sticking, makes the inside easy to clean, and makes the product look “premium” right after purchase.

That smooth, dark layer looks premium. But that layer isn’t permanent. It wears down. And what wears off doesn’t just disappear. It has to go somewhere.

In this case: possibly in your milk. Because what you put into it, you end up drinking.

The risks

Source: RIVM, European Commission, IARC

I’m not a scientist. But this is what the RIVM, the European Commission, and the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) say about long-term exposure to PFAS:

What PFAS can do in your body

• Hormone disruption: PFAS can disrupt the function of estrogen and thyroid hormones
• Thyroid problems: possibly increased risk of an underactive or overactive thyroid
• Immune system: possibly reduced function, including a less effective vaccine response
• Fertility: research has linked it to reduced fertility in both men and women
• Cholesterol: possibly increased cholesterol levels, even at relatively low exposure
• Cancer: PFOA is classified by the IARC as carcinogenic to humans (group 1), PFOS as possibly carcinogenic (group 2B)

Source: RIVM, European Commission, IARC Monographs (see sources at the bottom).

And perhaps the most confronting: according to the RIVM, every person in the Netherlands now has PFAS in their blood. From babies to adults. So the question isn’t whether you take it in, but how much you add to it every day.

Not all PFAS products are equally risky. You wear a rain jacket with PFAS occasionally. But you use a milk frother every day. With hot liquid. Which you then drink.

Check it yourself

How do you know if your milk frother has a PFAS coating? These are the signs:

• ✗The inside of the jug has a dark, smooth layer (black, gray, or dark gray)
• ✗There are scratches or light spots on the inside
• ✗The milk has been burning on faster lately than it used to
• ✗The foam is less thick than when the device was new
• ✗The packaging says "PFOA-free" but not "PFAS-free"
• ✗The inside feels smooth and "coated", not like pure metal or glass

What now?

I didn’t write this blog to scare you. I wrote it because I wish someone had told me three years ago.

Maybe you feel what I felt back then: where on earth do I even start? It’s in everything, right? That feeling is valid—and it’s exactly why most people do nothing.

But the answer that helped me is simple: you don’t have to do it perfectly all at once. Choose one switch and start there. For me, it was the appliance that spins hot milk into my cup every day.

You can’t un-know what you know now. But you can do something with it.