Owners Of Vintage Corelle Dishes Are Concerned About Lead Poisoning.

If you read the news, you’ll notice that many things in our lives aren’t what they appear. For example, “retirement” may include part-time employment or consulting, and it may not be so simple after all. Furthermore, your “healthy” morning cereal may have more sugar than a bowl of Lucky Charms (but with less fiber). It turns out that another commonplace object in our life may likewise harbor hidden threats behind its gleaming surface: your crockery. So, let’s look at how using vintage Corelle dishes may represent a health risk to you and your family.

Why Is Lead Or Cadmium Found In Dinnerware?

As you may be aware, the earth’s crust is composed of several metals. Some are useful to humans, while others are harmful. Lead and cadmium are two examples of toxic metals that may be found in soil and dust all around the world.

Lead and cadmium are both utilized in the production of tableware. Lead is utilized as a pigment to strengthen glazes, and cadmium gives dishes their red color. Both ingredients have been phased out of many items due to health concerns, however, they can still be found in older dishes such as Corelle ware.

Are My Corelle Dishes Safe To Use?

The good news is that determining if your dishes are lead-free is simple.

The bad news is that you can’t know if your Corelle dishes are lead-free. That’s right: the only way to find out if your dishes contain dangerous amounts of lead is to send them to a lab for testing. And, while it may appear to be an inconvenience, the fact is that you have nothing to lose by taking this test—except maybe something valuable: your health!

So, what are your options? The simplest answer is to replace any possibly harmful Corelle tableware with something else. If you want a more permanent solution, you may test your dishes with a test kit, which is available at local hardware stores. 

How Do You Know If Your Dishes Are Lead-Free?

There are several methods to verify that your Corelle dish is lead-free.
To find out if your Corelle dinnerware contains lead, use a lead test kit for dinnerware. While it cannot offer accurate amounts of lead or cadmium, it can detect their presence.

To avoid lead contamination, use only pure white Corelle dinnerware. Use elegant antique Corelle dinnerware as decoration or display it in your china cabinet.

How might lead have gotten into my food through my dishes?

But how can lead and cadmium end up in your food? It’s not like the dishes are attacking. The fact is that there are a few steps you can take to ensure that your food does not taste like lead or cadmium.
When dishes containing lead are heated above 350 F (when the dish itself contains more than 5% lead), they leak more metals into meals than when they are subjected to lower temperatures.
Washing dishes with lead-infused glaze at high heat (above 140 F) can also leach extra metals into your food.

What Dinnerware Is Lead- and Cadmium-Free?

If you’re concerned about the presence of lead in your tableware, there’s an easy method to find out. First, if it was manufactured after 2005, it is most likely safe. Next, check the bottom of your plate for “Made in the USA.” If it says that, you may be confident that it was created using safe techniques and materials.

Lead should not leach from ceramics that have been properly prepared. However, if the dishes are not properly hardened and coated, the lead may seep out. Furthermore, glazes used prior to FDA regulations included higher amounts of lead. Ingesting lead can be damaging to your health over time, especially for children and pregnant women.

Fears about lead poisoning among owners of older Corelle dishes are growing.

Not only are older Corelle dishes in danger of carrying lead. Any dinnerware created before the 1970s was most likely made in China or another nation where lead-painted tableware was common.
Lead and cadmium were employed as glazes on tableware because they were inexpensive, long-lasting, and simple to apply. Although the FDA outlawed lead in all food packaging and utensils in 2010, it is still used in some countries because to its low cost and availability in comparison to safer alternatives such as porcelain or ceramic ware with non-toxic glazes.

Lead might contaminate food in your dishwasher (or by hand) if you wash dishes with food residue remaining on them, or if you use detergents containing phosphates, which can leach out into foods when heated during dishwashing cycles or boiling water hand-washing methods.

You can tell that Cadmium and Lead are not present on the surface of the Corelle Dishes because a stain or yellowish tint would appear if they were. As a result, before using your dishes for food preparation, we recommend checking them with XRF equipment.