This post is about lead in ceramic dishes and cups. It is also an overview of FDA leach test standards, which limit lead leaching from ceramic ware, and how awareness of lead poisoning has changed over time.
Dishes can be very high in lead. Many households still use traditional glazed ceramic ware. We are prone to nostalgia and the appeal of tradition. Some vintage and antique patterns remind us of our childhood, of special holidays, or of loved ones who have since passed away. My grandmother used vintage dishes and lead crystal decades after the health risks of these types of products were known to the scientific community.
Glazed ceramic dishes, bowls, and mugs have traditionally been made with extreme levels of lead that shock the modern conscience. When tested with XRF, these glazes can read at thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands parts per million lead. Lead was intentionally added to ceramics to improve the sheen, to intensify certain colors, to lower production costs, and to increase durability.
Prior to 1971, there were no federal leach test standards in the United States to ensure that lead in ceramic ware did not contaminate food and beverages. Nor was there widespread public awareness in the U.S. of lead’s dangers to human health, despite restrictions on lead paint in many European countries up to 50 years prior. Lead was still regularly added to children’s products. Lead in gasoline and in residential house paint contributed to widespread lead exposure.
Virtually every child in our society was lead poisoned. Near the end of the 1970s, the median blood lead reference value of American children attending preschool was 15 micrograms per deciliter (μg/dl). This blood value has substantially decreased over time due to regulations targeting lead in residential house paint and in gasoline. Public awareness about the dangers of lead has significantly improved due to research, environmental advocacy, and regulations serving the public interest. As of 2021, the CDC considers children with blood lead reference values of 3.5 µg/dL or more to be at high risk for lead poisoning. But there is no safe level of lead in the blood.
When it comes to lead in American history, we were sacrificing our civilization and our children’s potential intelligence and long-term health…so a few industries could make more money and evade regulation of their hazardous products. It is likely that we are still engaging in this short-term, profit-motivated thinking when it comes to regulation of other toxic substances in consumer goods, which all too often damage the planet and our public health before their effects are fully known. But I digress…
In 1971, the FDA implemented leach test standards and informal guidelines on ceramic ware used for food and drink. The FDA lead leaching standards have been revised several times over the last few decades due to improved awareness about lead. Some of the revisions have been substantial. If you owned a dish that originally met the 1971 standards, it may not meet the current standards.
Today the FDA standard for lead leaching varies based on the size and shape of the dish and ranges from 0.5 to 3.0 μg/ml leachable lead. Dishes are limited to 3.0 μg/ml while pitchers and cups are limited to 0.5 μg/ml. This amount of lead is measured after exposing the product to an acetic acid solution for a 24-hour period. Please note that decorative, souvenir, and commemorative dishes are not required to meet this standard.
California has more stringent criteria for lead leaching in ceramic ware under Prop 65, originally passed by voters in 1986. If products sold in California leach lead in excess of this limit, they must contain a warning label. The current limit is 0.226 parts per million of lead for dinner ware. Not all ceramic dishes sold in the United States comply with Prop 65 labeling requirements, which are intended for residents of California. Many national brands do comply.
Note that the EPA and CDC states there is no safe level of lead exposure. However, regulatory bodies have set acceptable exposure limits for certain products likely to contain lead. Standards are realistic criteria that can be reasonably achieved by manufacturers using finite resources. They are not necessarily perfect nor final.
It is worth noting that cadmium is another toxic heavy metal frequently added to ceramics. Cadmium is a carcinogenic heavy metal and may be present in dishes with bright yellow, orange, or red glazes. Cadmium can leach from unsafe products and lead to health problems. Note that the FDA and Prop 65 regulate cadmium leaching in ceramic ware. We can typically detect cadmium down to trace levels using XRF.
After reviewing these regulations, we are inclined to ask the obvious: why use lead-based ceramic coatings at all? It seems more protective of consumers and the environment to switch to better materials. But change requires more thoughtful sourcing, innovation, internal testing, supply chain management, and manufacturing processes with higher upfront costs. Yet better dishes aren’t necessarily more expensive: lead free, tempered glass plates and low lead stoneware are available for a few dollars a piece from several major retail stores at the time of this writing.
I suppose we have arrived at our regular service announcement: if history is any warning, our political leaders have a dismal record of supporting the public good, and are typically more aligned with the interests of companies (large donors) looking to reduce potential regulatory expenses, no matter what costs are forced on customers, workers, and the environment. Regulations unfortunately tend to be imposed long after the initial harm is done.
Hopefully as a society we will reach a place where we can quickly respond to public health hazards involving toxic substances, before millions of unsuspecting customers and their families are exposed. Speaking of which, did you know that 97% of Americans have water and stain repellent chemicals known as PFAS in their blood, and that these substances are persistent and associated with adverse health outcomes? Just saying…
Recommendations for Ceramic Ware:
We recommend not using old dishes of unknown date to prepare, store, or consume food or drink. Researchers found that dishes made prior to 1970 can leach lead and cadmium at levels well above FDA limits, with some examples leaching hundreds of micrograms of lead.
Similar research found that some pre-1950s ceramic dishes leached hundreds of micrograms of lead when exposed to acetic acid solutions, far in excess of the standards. We recommend consumers throw old dishes away rather than donate them to other families. If your dish has historical or sentimental value, consider storing it and marking the back to indicate that it is not safe for food use.
We recommend not using traditional imported ceramic ware for food or drink, even modern pieces. In 2021, the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene investigated 15 cases of lead poisoning in kids and adults caused by traditional ceramic ware imported from various countries including Mexico, Ecuador, and Turkey. The lead leached into food resulting in serious lead poisoning up to 53 μg/dl in the blood.
We recommend disposing of any lead containing dishes that show signs of wear. The potential for leaching can increase when a product is damaged. Consider replacing dishes with cracks, crazing, chips, faded designs, chalky residue, or dishes that have been heavily used over a period of years. Washing lead glazes in the dishwasher can damage the glaze and increase the risk of leaching.
Even if a vintage glazed dish was leach tested per FDA requirements, we recommend switching to lead free or low lead options. The standards have been tightened multiple times since inception, so your vintage dish or cup may not meet the current FDA standards. And it is frankly strange, unconscionable, unnecessary, and ridiculous for any plate or cup used to serve a food or beverage to test at 100,000 ppm lead. Or even 10,000 parts per million lead. Why should Americans have to endure decades of lead exposure – and perform mental gymnastics trying to determine which products are safe – when we can simply use dishes without added lead and cadmium? We must ask companies to do better.
New ceramic ware subject to current FDA leach testing standards is not a lead exposure concern. Ceramics used for food and drink that are compliant with Prop 65 are even better. However, for the reasons mentioned above we prefer lead free and low lead ceramic products. When possible, we want to reduce the unnecessary use of lead in consumer goods. In the absence of regulation, we should do our part as consumers to encourage the production of thoughtfully sourced products and to promote environmental stewardship. Our choices as consumers impact people and ecosystems in the places where our goods are made.
If you’re having trouble deciding what dishes to buy, start with plain Corelle. These products are made from layered white glass in the United States and they are consistently non-detect for lead and cadmium when tested with XRF. We have not checked their new decorative patterns, but they are leach tested. We have used our Corelle winter frost dish set for a decade and they still look brand new. Here’s an affiliate link to a starter set.
Thank you so for reading. I hope this article has been helpful to you.