Your Kitchen Utensils May be Poisoning You
fliptop writes:
New research published in Chemosphere reveals an alarming reality: everyday kitchen utensils may quietly harm your well-being. The research reveals the extent to which some cooking tools, particularly black plastic ones, contaminate food with deadly toxins while we cook:
Black plastic kitchenware is a serious problem. Most contain harmful chemicals like flame retardants, colorants, and other additives that can migrate into food during cooking. The study cites black non-stick cookware, plastic cutting boards, and plastic utensils as particular causes of chemical contamination.
Even though plastic kitchenware is convenient, cheap, and easy to clean, these benefits are paid for with a potential cost to your health. The longevity and ease of cleaning that sell the products to consumers cannot be worth the potential health risks they provide.
Scientists are most concerned with long-term exposure through regular food preparation.
Black spatulas, plastic forks and knives, and certain pans release toxic chemicals such as decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE), a flame retardant found in household goods. The chemical has been linked to thyroid and hormone disruption, cancer risks, and developmental issues in children. What makes these pollutants sneaky is that they are invisible - there is no way for consumers to know they are there.
Even more alarming, many of those toxic chemicals are recycled from electronics. Manufacturers put flame retardants in kitchenware in the guise of making kitchens safer against fire, but in doing so, they cause significant health risks that can outweigh any safety advantage.
[...] To minimize exposure to these poisons, substitute offending cookware with safer options that can be simply incorporated into your daily cooking routine:
- Replace plastic cutlery with old-school metal silverware, which will not leach chemicals into food and offers improved durability
- Substitute non-stick pans with stainless steel or cast iron cookware. Though stainless steel may take a bit longer to preheat, it offers a safer cooking surface free of potentially toxic substances
- Substitute plastic cutting boards with tempered glass cutting boards, offering a non-porous, chemical-free surface that is resistant to bacterial contamination and doesn't release microplastics when foods are being prepared.
- As an alternative to glass, opt for solid wood cutting boards without glue-based adhesives if glass seems impractical. Choose boards constructed from a single piece of wood rather than composite materials that can contain chemical adhesives. Keep in mind that these natural alternatives must be hand-washed rather than dishwasher-cleaned
DOI: Megan Liu, Sicco H. Brandsma, Erika Schreder - From e-waste to living space: Flame retardants contaminating household items add to concern about plastic recycling. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143319
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