Grilling with Aluminum – Safe or Not?

Aluminum is a metal we usually associate with foil or soda cans, but has many more uses – including being the material we use to make your trusty GrillGrates! Aluminum has a lot of properties that make it perfect for use as a premium grilling surface. Primarily, aluminum is an excellent conductor of heat – much more so than stainless steel and cast iron. Aluminum’s superior thermal conductivity also means that GrillGrate’s heat up more evenly than your grill’s steel or cast iron stock grates. Aluminum is also non-rusting – so no more worrying about your outdoor grill’s grates rusting in the elements. 

That’s why we make your grill’s secret weapon, GrillGrates, out of hard anodized aluminum. But wait! What’s anodization got to do with anything?? Anodization is a process that uses an electric current to create a thick, protective oxide layer on the surface of a metal. Learn more about the anodizing process here. This makes GrillGrates extremely durable, scratch resistant, and corrosion resistant. Anodizing aluminum is non-toxic and is heat resistant to the melting point of aluminum (1,221 degrees F). Wow!

We at GrillGrate know that our customers are dedicated to making sure that the food they grill is delicious AND safe. So – is cooking on aluminum safe? This is a question we’ve received many times over the years and we want to finally put out our definitive answer. 

Short answer – YES! 

Aluminum is the most abundant metal in our earth’s crust and is everywhere in our environment as well as in the products we use everyday. You just can’t avoid aluminum! It’s in the water you drink and in the food you eat; no matter what you do or where you live. Similarly to iron, tiny amounts of aluminum do enter your food through use of aluminum cookware. Luckily, exposure to aluminum in water, food, and through aluminum cookware is in very small amounts  and isn’t considered to be harmful. Aluminum that does enter the body leaves very quickly through our waste. Fun fact – the amount of aluminum that enters the body through cookware is in similar amounts to the amount of aluminum that standard aspirin and indigestion tablets contain. 

One common misconception is that exposure to aluminum causes Alzheimer’s disease but most experts agree that there is no strong connection between aluminum and Alzheimer’s – the studies just aren’t there! This is a complicated topic with a long history, so if you want to learn more about the research that has been done in this field, check out this article from Alzheimer’s Research UK. 

To summarize – aluminum is all around us at all times everyday! Whether you cook with GrillGrates or not, aluminum is entering your body. Whether they come from water, food, medicines, or your cookware, these traces of aluminum are quickly excreted and do not represent a threat to our health. 

After reviewing the available research and understanding the process of anodization that GrillGrates go through, we feel confident that GrillGrates are safe to cook on AND are far superior to any other grilling surface. Want to learn more about why your grill needs GrillGrates? Check out our Science of GrillGrates page.