Some Vitamix blenders produce tiny black particles of polytetrafluoroethylene, the non-stick chemical more commonly known as Teflon. Customers are upset, though health experts say there’s nothing to worry about.
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Owners of Vitamix blenders — the expensive pulverizing machines adored by foodies and celebrities, and used by Starbucks, McDonald's, and Jamba Juice — have taken to the internet over the past year to complain of a mysterious substance coming from the machines' signature angled blades: tiny black particles.
"O-ring tiny abrasions leak into my smoothie!" noted one Amazon review. "Not sure what it is but I'm guessing this isn't the spontaneous generation of vitamins," quipped another on YouTube. "I find it quite irresponsible that they keep selling these defective blades and making their customers (women and children and babies) eat black plastic," said a post on Slickdeals.
The shards are made mostly of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the non-stick chemical more commonly known as Teflon, the company told BuzzFeed News.
The PTFE flecks apparently come from a seal at the bottom of the containers used in all blender models, Scott Tennant, director of communications at Vitamix, told BuzzFeed News. PTFE "has been used in pots and pans and other cookware for more than 50 years."
The flecks also contain about 2% graphite, which gives them their black color, Tennant said.
Vitamix conducted an internal analysis late last summer, then contracted an independent standards company to conduct similar tests. Vitamix has not published any of these scientific results.
Vitamix sold 1.4 million blenders last year, typically retailing between $400 and $700.
Though news of the mysterious "black dust" has set many customers into panic mode, ingesting PTFE is not harmful, according to independent health experts.
The reason PTFE works so well as a non-stick coating is because it's chemically inert: Nothing reacts with it. So if the particles are indeed PTFE, as the company claims, then there's nothing to fret about, experts say.
"It's unsightly, and not many people want to have the visual of having black flakes in your food," Edward Boyer, director of toxicology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, told BuzzFeed News. "But it's probably better for you than eating a cheeseburger every meal."
Since last spring, angry customers have been posting evidence of the tiny particles, which become visible if you run the machine with water inside.
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