skinny on lead in crock pots

[Guest guest]

Re: lead in crock pots - the study below appears to be an accurate though

" unofficial " study.

http://www.terminalverbosity.com/2009/11/09/the-skinny-on-lead-in-crock-pots-it-\

may-surprise-you/

The

<http://www.terminalverbosity.com/2009/11/09/the-skinny-on-lead-in-crock-pots-it\

-may-surprise-you/> skinny on lead in crock

pots - It may surprise you!

Posted on | November 9, 2009

crockpotI don't like ambiguity, especially when it comes to the health of my

children. So I was alarmed when I couldn't find a

satisfactory answer to the question: " Do modern-day crock pot glazes contain

lead that can leach into my food? "

While lead in ceramics has been an issue for as long as we've known about lead

poisoning, the crock pot debate heated up several

years ago when KUTV newsman Bill Gephardt reported that many commonly-used

<http://connect2utah.com/content/fulltext/?cid=43859>

kitchen products contain lead. One of the items highlighted in the article is a

Rival brand crock pot.

The standards, and what's wrong with them

I went to the FDA's web site first to see what the actual regulations are about

lead in crock pot glazes. Searching for " lead " on

this site is not something I would recommend to anyone who worries about this

type of thing-did you know they have regulations on

what

<http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FoodContaminantsAdulteration/Metals/Lead/ucm\

172050.htm> the acceptable amount of lead in

candy can be? Like there is any acceptable amount of lead in candy. Holy sh!t.

After quite a bit of poking around, I did finally find what I believe to be the

FDA

<http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm07\

4516.htm> guidelines that would mandate lead levels

in both ceramic slow cooker/crock pot inserts, as well as other ceramic plates,

cups, and pitchers. It appears that leach levels of

1 mcg/mL are acceptable. The problem with this, of course, is that it doesn't

appear to test things like heat, the acidity of the

food, and length of contact with the surface, all of which could reasonably be

expected to affect how much lead ends up in our food.

Clemson University's ative Extension attempts to allay consumer fears with

the following information on lead

<http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/food/food_safety/handling/hgic3864.html>

in ceramics, but even it admits that there could be

lead in crock pots, " Enamel-coated iron and steel is colorful, stain and scratch

resistant and does not pick up food odors. It does

not contain lead, except in some glazes for slow-cooking pots (crock-pots).

However, the amount of lead leached into food from these

pots does not exceed FDA standards. "

The problem with even a little lead leaching into your food (because, let's be

clear, the FDA standard allows for some lead to

leach), according to Mayo Clinic

<http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lead-poisoning/FL00068> , is " Lead poisoning

occurs when lead

builds up in the body, often over a period of months or years. Even small

amounts of lead can cause serious health problems. " This

means that while one serving of food prepared or served using ceramics that

leach lead might not hurt much, over time the cumulative

affect could cause lead poisoning.

Talking to crock pot manufacturers, or going down the rabbit hole

One concerned mama who knew that I have been investigating this issue asked me

if there is such a thing as a lead-free crock pot. At

this point in my research, I didn't have an answer for her. So I decided to

contact the manufacturers of the top five brands (based

on Amazon.com search results, which I realize is not a scientifically air-tight

method) and see what they had to say. Full

disclosure: I didn't call all of these folks because I literally lost my voice

halfway through the research due to a nasty cold. So

some companies got only an email, and some got both an email and a call.

Hamilton Beach

Hamilton Beach <http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/faqs/slow-cookers.php> 's web site

has this to say about lead in its slowcookers:

Hamilton Beach specifications applicable to all slow cookers and their

components (including the earthenware crocks) prohibits the

product from containing any measurable amounts of lead. Furthermore, the

factories that manufacture the earthenware crocks for

Hamilton Beach are certified ceramic production facilities whose ceramic ware is

deemed to satisfy FDA heavy metal requirements.

Hamilton Beach takes all reasonable steps to ensure that the earthenware crocks

accompanying our slow cookers provide safe and

satisfactory service to our consumers.

One blogger has already contacted Hamilton

<http://insightfulnana.com/home-garden/housekeeping-home-garden/lead-poisoning-a\

nd-crock-pots/> Beach, who told her definitively

that their crock pot glaze did not contain lead. The response I received to my

inquiry, which mostly matched to what was on their

web site, was slightly less reassuring:

Our product specifications require that all components in contact with food

comply with US Food & Drug Administration " food-safe "

requirements. The FDA requires that parts of food preparation products in

contact with food do not leach lead above certain

specified limits. The FDA does not require that a product in contact with food

be " lead-free " . Our slow cookers have been tested by

an independent laboratory and found to meet the FDA's food-safe requirements;

however, the unit is not " lead-free " .

West Bend

I couldn't find any information on West Bend's web site, so I called them

directly. Their customer service department said that

their crocks contain no lead. To be sure, I asked a clarifying question, " Do you

mean it has no lead, or that it meets FDA

standards? " She replied that they do not use any lead at all in their glaze. I

suggested that they put this information on their web

site because consumers would want to know.

Crock Pot & Rival

Crock Pot & Rival are actually owned by the same company, Jarden Consumer

Solutions <http://www.jardenstore.com> . When I phoned

them, the very pleasant customer service representative's first response was,

" There can't be lead in them. " I let him know about

the FDA standards, and then he wasn't so sure. He actually gave me the name and

email address of someone in management to contact,

and I have contacted him. The response I got does not reassure me:

Jarden Consumer Solutions (JCS) continues to proactively test its products for

lead and other toxic metals, with the results

continuing to come back favorably. Lead is not an additive in the Crock Pot slow

cooker ceramic glaze. JCS is diligent in its

efforts to ensure that its products are compliant with applicable regulations

regarding the presence of lead.

Cuisinart

By the time I got to emailing Cuisinart, I knew more about what to ask. I

focused my question to them on what safety measures and

testing they undertake to prevent lead in their glazes from leaching into foods.

I have not, at the time of writing, heard back from

Cuisinart.

Contacting the manufacturers did little to allay my fears. Although the maker of

my own crock pot (West Bend) assured me it was

lead-free, the fact that other customer service reps I spoke or emailed with

seemed unaware of the difference between " lead-free "

and " FDA-compliant, " I knew I was going to have to take matters into my own

hands.

When all else failed, I tested them myself!

Although various blogs and web sites mention this issue, I couldn't find a broad

review of the safety of crock pots, test results

for lead, or satisfactory information from the manufacturers themselves. So I

decided to contact some friends, get a selection of

crock pots, and take them to WeeCycle Environmental Consulting

<http://weecycle.outsourcelocally.com/> down in Boulder, and have

them surface tested with their XRF gun.

I quickly learned that a surface test using an XRF gun would not be a perfect

indicator of crock pot safety. from The Smart

<http://thesmartmama.com> Mama told me exactly what is wrong with testing

surface lead as a way of predicting how lead might move

into food:

The FDA standards for lead in ceramics is a leachable lead standard, and the XRF

measures total lead. So, I could find high levels

of lead BUT the lead may not be leachable, which means that it wouldn't migrate

into food.

Basically, when the glazes are properly formulated and fired at a high

temperature, the lead is sealed. However, if they are not

properly prepared and fired, lead may leach into food stored in or on the

ceramic ware.

Determined to get a true and accurate test of the risk of lead leaching into

food, I found an inexpensive used Rival crock pot and

planned to take a sample from it and have WeeCycle send it to the lab for a

leach test (for obvious reasons, I didn't want to take a

chip out of my fairly new crock pot!). I ended up with quite a selection of

crock pots, covering four of the five major brands (I

couldn't find anyone with a Cuisinart crock pot for some reason!) in several

colors, since each color could have a slightly

different chemical make-up. I think the wonderful ladies at WeeCycle were a bit

surprised when I schlepped them all down to their

office this morning to do the XRF test.

WeeCycle's XRF tester, who asked to remain unnamed, testing the crock pots,

inside and out!

WeeCycle's XRF tester, who asked to remain unnamed, testing the crock pots,

inside and out!

The results absolutely caught me off guard. Not one of the crock pots we tested

had any lead in it at all. We tested each crock pot

twice and threw a couple of red herrings (a dish made in China and some tiles

from Italy that the WeeCycle staff keep in the office

because they know they have lead in them) just to make sure that the XRF was

working correctly.

Obviously, I did not test every crock pot on the market, nor can testing half a

dozen crock pots on a single day account for things

like a bad (read " lead-laden " ) batch of glaze or a new color that uses slightly

different chemicals. Some of the manufacturers

themselves certainly seem to be leaving the door open for using lead in the

glaze if they need to. But we tested the following

crocks this morning and, again, they showed ZERO lead:

* West Bend - black

* Rival - black

* Rival - dark green

* Rival - beige

* Rival - white

* Hamilton Beach - white

* Crock pot - black

Being a natural skeptic, I have to admit this was not what I was expecting to

discover. I didn't even get to smash the stylin' $5

beige Rival crock pot I bought just for that purpose because there's no point in

doing a leach test on a crock that contains no lead

to begin with. My frustration that the FDA has a standard (or many, actually)

that I do not believe is actually safe, and that

manufacturers do not arm their telephone representatives with accurate, detailed

information to answer consumer questions about

safety aside, I feel a fair level of comfort with the results of this test, and

with continuing to use my crock pot to cook things

that I might otherwise have bought in BPA-laden

<http://www.terminalverbosity.com/2009/11/03/bisphenol-a-its-even-worse-than-we-\

thought/> cans. Woot.