Lead in China Dishes: A Dish Owner's Guide

Posted: 01-Dec-1994; Updated: 21-Aug-2009

What about your dishes? Are your favorites, the cups and plates you use every day, a potential lead hazard for you and your children? And what can you do about it if they are?  The following will hopefully answer questions you may have about the safety of your china.

What are the facts?

1. Really dangerous pieces of china -- ones you should not use for food or drink at all because of high lead risk -- are fairly rare.
2. The potential of dishes to leach lead into food or drink varies enormously.
3. There are many thousands of different makes and kinds of china in use -- new and old, fancy and plain -- and no one has tested them all.
4. It's the combination of lead-leaching china with certain uses that causes most of the problem, so safe practices will reduce risk even if you don't know the lead-leaching potential of a particular piece.
5. Because virtually everyone uses glazed china, this is one of the major potential sources of lead risk remaining in the American diet.

What do I look for?

The following hints are generally useful, but they are only hints. Certainty comes only from testing. Many manufacturers will have test records for the patterns they make. If you know the manufacturer, you should ask -- or refer to the Shopper's Guide. You may also choose to use home test kits.

Potential risk factors include:

1. China handed down from a previous generation. These heirlooms were made before lead was recognized as a hazard.
2. Home-made or handcrafted china, either from the U.S. or abroad, unless you are sure the maker used a lead-free glaze or high-temperature, commercial firing practices.
3. Highly decorated, multi-colored inside surfaces (the part that touches the food and drink).
4. Decorations on top of the glaze instead of beneath it. Can you feel the decoration when you rub your fingers over it? When you hold the piece at an angle to the light, can you see brush strokes above the transparent glaze surface? Has the decoration begun to wear away?
5. Corroded glaze, or a dusty or chalky grey residue on the glaze after the piece has been washed. THIS TYPE OF CHINA COULD BE QUITE DANGEROUS. STOP USING IT AT ONCE.

Any combination of factors 1 through 4 deserves particular attention. Factor 5, which could indicate extreme danger, is fortunately quite rare.
 

How do I minimize my risks?

1. Don't store food or drink in questionable china pitchers, bowls, etc. The longer food remains in contact with a china surface containing lead, the more lead can be drawn into the food.
2. Don't serve highly acidic food or drink in questionable china, especially to children. Acidic foods and drinks will leach lead out of china much faster than neutral foods like rice or mashed potatoes or neutral drinks like water or milk. Examples of acidic foods and drinks are: cola-type soft drinks; orange and grapefruit juice; applesauce and apple juice; tomatoes and tomato-based products like ketchup and spaghetti sauce; salad dressings with vinegar; tea and coffee.
3. Don't use a questionable piece of china in your everyday routine. Your favorite coffee mug, the bowl that usually goes into the refrigerator with leftovers, the everyday china your children use -- these are the pieces of china to focus on. China that you use only on special occasions is of less concern (particularly if you follow tips 1 and 2).
4. Don't heat or microwave in questionable china. Heat can speed up the lead-leaching process. These precautions aren't necessary, of course, if the china is lead-free or very-low-lead -- i.e., meets the stringent California warning standards. See the Shopper's Guide for a list.

For more information about lead risks and food, contact:

Office of Consumer Affairs
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Mail Stop MFE-88
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
888-INFO-FDA

California Department of Health Services
Food and Drug Branch
PO Box 942732
Sacramento, CA 94234-7320
(916) 445-2263 
 

What is safe?

The types of china that can be relied on to be safe without being tested are explained in A Dish Buyer's Guide.

Otherwise, there is no easy answer. By this time, manufacturers who sell their products in California should have test results, but they do not necessarily make them available to consumers.

In general, experts believe:

• White china is less likely to have lead problems than highly decorated, multi-colored china, although even highly decorated patterns can meet the strict California standards, and many do.
• New china made by a well-known, brand-name manufacturer is unlikely to show very high lead leaching.

But these are only generalities. Lots of highly decorated and non-brand-name china shows very low lead-leaching potential, and some china madeby well-known manufacturers shows relatively high lead-leaching potential. Actual test results are the only reliable guide.
 

Can I test my dishes on my own?

Simple test kits, costing approximately $20-$30 apiece, are available by mail and in most hardware and paint stores. These simple tests will detect only relatively high lead-leaching potential, but they are a good way to check on potentially high-risk dishes that you particularly care about.

Home Test Kits You Can Order by Mail:

LeadCheck Swabs
HybriVet Systems, Inc.
P.O. Box 1210
Framingham, MA 01701
(800)262-LEAD
8 test swabs, $21.95 plus shipping;
16 test swabs, $38.45 plus shipping

Frandon Lead Alert Kit
Pace Environs, Inc.
120 West Beaver Creek Rd., Unit 16
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada L4B1L2
(800)359-9000
Up to 100 tests, $29.95 plus $3.50 shipping

Lead Inspector Kit
Michigan Ceramic Supplies Inc.
4048 Seventh St.
P.O. Box 342
Wyandotte, MI 48192
(800)860-2332
Up to 100 tests, $17.95 plus $3 shipping;
creates rotten egg smell

Know Lead Kit
Carolina Environment
P. O. Box 3547
Mooresville, NC 28117
(800)448-LEAD (also a help line)
4 tests, $11.95 (suggested retail) plus shipping

(These listings do not constitute an endorsement by Environmental Defense or any other party of any particular product or testing method.)