Mommy Goes Green

Mommy Goes Green Q&A – A reader emailed asking about melamine safety in dishes.

•Q: Do you know if melamine is unsafe? I did my best to search for info when I bought my son’s dishes, but there is just so much info out there.
•A: You know all those hard plastic dishes with cute designs at Target?  Those are made of melamine. In fact, I’ve found a lot of dishes, particularly in the summer, to be made of melamine. 

According to the FDA, melamine, an industrial chemical, is a small, nitrogen-containing molecule that has a number of industrial uses, including as an industrial binding agent, flame retardant, and as part of a polymer in the manufacture of cooking utensils and plates.  Melamine, when combined with formaldehyde, forms a resin used in dishware.

The National Toxicology Program has noted that “some melamine polymer based kitchenware can leach significant
amounts of melamine monomer - up to 2.5 mg/100 cm2 with hot acidic foods” and more research is needed.  In China ( where a lot of these cute dishes are coming from! ), in an experiment conducted by the Consumers’ Foundation based on Japan’s methods, it was found that 100 percent of the 20 melamine-resin tableware products tested released melamine when filled with anything hot.  Taiwan has a standard for the maximum amount of formaldehyde released from food containers, but not one for melamine tableware – makes you feel all warm and fuzzy that they do not control how much melamine leaches knowing that 100% of the tested pieces leach!

The fact that it’s well known that melamine leaches makes me unsure about the safety of using these dishes to feed my family.  We do have a couple plates ( yep, the cute ones from Target ) but I’ve never put them in the microwave and they are always hand washed.  I, personally, wouldn’t put hot foods on them or use anything but a plastic spoon or fork on them either ( to assure they don’t get scratched ).   That makes them fairly unuseable in my house.  We’ve started using a lot more glass products in our house and as I mentioned a few weeks ago, kidishes are a great alternative to plastic for kids.  They are made with tempered glass, 4 – 5 times stronger than standard glass and doesn’t break into shards if it does break. They are 100% recyclable, microwave and dishwasher safe.

 So to answer the question in one sentence:  The FDA says melamine is safe but recent reports suggest otherwise, I’d consider alternatives!