Tefal was founded in France in 1956 (the name is a contraction of TEFlon and ALuminum). By the mid 1960's it had become France's No. 1 maker of non-stick cookware, and was bought by SEB (a French domestic appliances company) in 1968. 1987 saw the company produce the first plastic deep fryer, saving millions of fingers from burns! A model with a non-stick removable bowl was introduced in 1994.

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