When We Eat Dinner We Eat Off Plates...We Drink Coffee From Cups...Lead In Dishes...

When we eat dinner we eat off dishes, and we drink coffee or tea from cups...is there Lead in those dishes and cups?

I am a cook first, so somewhere along my life path I have come in contact with what I consider important information on dinnerware that I believe everyone who cooks or eats has a right to know. Dishes and containers used for cooking and eating have improved throughout the years in regards to safety issues yet there are still some dangers involved concerning lead in crock pots and dinner dishes plus those cute coffee cups many of us drink out of in the workplace.

Have you ever wondered what all the flap is about whenever you read that there is ‘danger’ in consuming food that is served on dinnerware where the surface contains lead based paint? Did you know that it is still possible to purchase dishes, crock pots among other cooking pots and coffee cups that contain enough lead in the finish glaze to cause health problems?

Lead is a common toxic substance that can be found in the paint finish on some dinnerware that is manufactured in countries where dishes and cups are not ‘fired’ in furnaces hot enough to burn off the lead that is often found in the paint's glaze finish that is applied to dinnerware. They are often attractive to look at, and priced in the lower range of pricing. They are also dangerous to your health if you purchase them and use them to serve your everyday drinks and meals.

The problem comes in for the consumer when food consumed off this dinnerware contains some form of acid such as foods that contain tomato, vinegar or citrus in the recipe. Coffee and tea also contain enough acid to leech out lead that is contained within the glaze on cups that were not ‘fired’ in furnaces hot enough to remove all of the lead from the surface finish.

When a young child ingests food-containing lead, this toxin, once it is circulating within the child’s blood deposits lead within the child’s brain, and causes irreversible brain damage by stunting the growth of the child’s brain. Some experts in child development believe that children prone to violence are brain damaged from ingesting lead from dishes or from ingesting toxic paint that contains led. Latex paint used on the interior of homes can contain lead, if the paint was manufactured before 1977.

When an adult consumes food that contains lead the result is lead poisoning. Toxic lead cannot stunt the growth of the fully developed brain. What lead poisoning does to the adult is damage the adult’s blood system’s ability to produce red blood cells. Red blood cells are the cells that hold and distribute oxygen within the blood to all of the bodies’ organs, including the brain.
A diminished red blood cell count means fewer red blood cells are available to carry oxygen, and less oxygen leads to damage of the adult’s internal organs. Outwardly the skin can show this damage as premature aging.

Fewer red blood cells containing oxygen reaching the adults brain also diminishes the adult’s ability to think and reason out the problems of everyday life.
So you can see that lead that leeches out into food from dinnerware, cookware or a lead laden coffee cup can be a serious problem.

There are ways to determine if your dishes or coffee cups contain lead within the painted finish. Lead testing kits are available from most hardware stores to test surfaces for lead that can leech out from the finished surface into your food or drink. These kits generally cost fewer than ten dollars.

When selecting dinnerware, crock pots or decorative coffee cups be aware of how to determine if the cups, pots and plates are safe to eat or drink from. The blue and white CIB sticker you may see on a box containing the set of plates you are considering purchasing or on the cup you are looking at, signifies that the plates and or cup were manufactures in a facility that produces dinnerware and cups that are completely LEAD FREE.

Another way to safeguard both yourself and your family from the danger of dinnerware, crock pots or coffee cups that contain leechable lead from the finish glazes is to purchase dinnerware and cups manufactured only from companies that produce lead free products.

I know of two such companies; Pfaltzgraff is one of these companies and The Homer Laughlin Company that produces Fiesta Ware dinnerware is the other company. It is easy to find dinnerware from both of these companies from stores such as Kohls, Macy’s and other fine stores and specialty shops.
Lead free dinnerware manufactured by both of these companies today, is completely guaranteed. !

Just a word of caution, ALL Fiesta Ware manufactured in the United States before 1986 was NOT LEAD FREE. The factory closed down and reopened in 1986 producing only lead free dinnerware after reopening.

So while dinnerware produced by Homer Laughlin before 1986 including Fiesta Ware is beautiful and desirable for collections it is not a good idea to eat off older Fiesta Ware manufactured before 1986.

Thanks for reading my article on the dangers of lead in dishes and cups.
Carol Garnier Dutra

Copyright © 2010/2011 by Carol Garnier Dutra