Certain materials are more inert than others. This means the pots you use to cook with can interact with the food you make. Traces of metals can make their way into your food.

This is not so important for adults. For babies and small children it can be a risk to health. Experts are divided on exactly what the effects are. The biggest risks are attached to those who are allergic to certain metals. And babies can’t always tell you what has given them a stomachache or that unsightly rash.

When your cooking pots are shiny and new, there is no risk. As soon as they begin to get chipped, the metals they are made of can get into your food. Here are some tips from the experts to help you avoid any health risks:

- Avoid using copper pots that are not lined or insulated to prepare your baby’s food. Vitamins C and E and folic acid are broken down in food when heated in a copper pot. Many food items are acidic, particularly pickled food and rich sauces that contain vinegar. Acidic foods break down the copper in your pots – and this is deposited in your food.

- Aluminium pots are also broken down by acidic food so that traces of aluminium can get into your baby’s food. A safer alternative is anodized aluminium cookware which prevents any aluminium getting into your food.

- Pots made of stainless steel are much safer because they don’t react with food despite being made of a mixture of different metals. But you’d be better off not using them to prepare baby food if the pots are old – especially if they are dented or chipped.

The non-stick material coating non-stick pans can chip off into the food you’re preparing, so you should avoid using them to prepare your baby’s food. Toxic fumes may be released if you heat a non-stick pan to a high enough temperature.

In general, scrubbing your stainless steel cookware with an abrasive substance such as wire wool is not a great idea. It scratches your pots, releasing tiny quantities of chromium and nickel into your food.

It’s not all bad news, though. Cooking with iron cooking pots can benefit your health. When you cook acidic foods such as tomatoes in iron, the foods actually “pull” the iron from the pot. This increases the amount of iron, essential to replenishing blood cells, in your food.

The FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition say that ceramic, glass and enameled cookware is safe. They recommend not using older enameled cookware because it may contain cadmium. Cadmium is toxic and is no longer used in the manufacture of cookware in the US.