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The war is over Chemicals are forever in cookware He’s seen celebrity chefs, major cookware makers, and state legislatures enter the fray. Now, a new front has opened regarding advertising claims.
Cookware company Caraway claims Big Cookware is using a lawsuit to try to “silence” the company, which rose to prominence in making chemical-free pans forever. Caraway recently launched a marketing campaign in response to a lawsuit filed in February by two major fryer makers, alleging that Caraway is damaging their reputations by marketing its products as being free of “toxic” chemicals — even though neither company is ever mentioned by name.
The lawsuit, filed by Groupe SEB USA and Meyer in the Southern District of New York, alleges that Caraway’s marketing revolves around forever chemicals, a general term for chemicals. Polyfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), harmful to the industry as a whole. The companies say in the lawsuit that Caraway’s marketing materials are not based on scientific fact and have “caused enormous and continuing harm to consumers, plaintiffs, and other cookware and baking equipment companies in the market.”
In response to WIRED’s questions, Carmen Zarlenga, an attorney at Mayer Brown representing Groupe SEB USA and Meyer in the case, sent a press release. “Claims to be a smaller business is not a defense to false advertising — all businesses large and small have the same rights and obligations under federal and state false advertising laws,” Zarlinga said in the statement.
The lawsuit is the latest attack on anti-PFAS advocacy by two of the largest companies in the global cookware industry. In 2024, while more than two dozen state legislatures were considering bans on consumer products containing PFAS, Groupe SEB, the parent company of Groupe SEB USA, and Meyer founded the Cookware Sustainability Alliance, an advocacy group for the industry. This group has actively opposed the ban, including signing letters and testifying at government councils.
Last fall, in the face of a bill in the California Legislature to ban consumer products containing PFAS, celebrity chefs, including Rachael Ray, Marcus Samuelsson, and David Chang, sent Messages To the Legislative Council opposing the draft law. (Ray and Chang own Meyer’s cookware lines, while Samuelsson serves as a “chef partner” for All-Clad, which is owned by Groupe SEB. WIRED requested comment from All Clad, Ray, Samuelsson, and Chang. All four did not respond.) The Legislature ultimately passed the bill but was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“The Cookware Sustainability Coalition is focused on nationwide advocacy to protect perfectly safe cookware from being dragged into widespread bans on PFAS products,” the group’s president, Steve Burns, told WIRED in an email. “We are not a party to any litigation at this point.”
Last year, the Cookware Sustainability Alliance disputed the claims made by Caraway through the National Advertising Division (NAD), an independent nonprofit organization often associated with the Better Business Bureau’s national programs that self-police the advertising industry. The coalition challenged some of the claims made in Caraway’s ads about PFAS.
The NAD ruled that Caraway can continue to advertise its products as “non-toxic” and “PFAS-free,” but must avoid specific claims in its advertising, including that other nonstick cookware “can release toxins into your food and your home during normal, manufacturer-recommended use.”
The lawsuit filed in February alleges that Caraway continued to use those messages despite NAD’s decision. The company says most of the advertising examples highlighted in the lawsuit simply state that its products are non-toxic and that they fully comply with NAD recommendations. But the lawsuit also claims that Caraway “did not remove several relevant ads.” In a memorandum in support of the motion to dismiss, Caraway alleged that the DA provided “no factual support whatsoever for the element of consumer deception.”
