Level of Lead

This Dish was XRF Scanned using an Niton XL5 plus and found to have levels of the following elements.

Lead- 54,509 ppm

Arsenic - 8,399 ppm

Mercury - not detected

Cadmium - not detected

Facts About this Plate:

Location Offered For Sale

New York

Store Offered For Sale

thrift store

Brand

222 Fifth

Is it safe?

This item was found to a level of lead above 10,000 ppm.

90ppm is universally accepted as the safe level for use by children. This dish is substantially higher than that.

For example, If this dish is being used to hold spaghetti and meatballs for 30 minutes, you may wind up consuming significantly more lead in your diet than if you ate off of a dish with less lead than this one.

My Opinion

Dishes with this level of lead are probably going to give you exposure to levels of lead which are concerning when using this item to eat food off of.

It is possible with daily use that this object could expose you to an amount of lead which would contribute to an elevated blood lead level and could be a significant source of lead exposure.

Contacting this dish with wet foods significantly increases exposure risk and it is not advisable to consume food off dishes at this level of lead.

I would not let a child eat off of this dish and advise adults to also not eat off this dish.

How much Lead comes off?

This page will be updated when if preform leach testing.Standard ASTM C738-94(2020).This item is possibly not legally for sale according to FDA rules.

Understanding Lead Exposure From Ceramics

Understading Lead exposure from ceramics

There are two ways ceramic dishes can expose us to lead

• Direct (Touch) Exposure - If a dish object has a marking, decoration or surface coating that comes off when touched, it directly exposes consumers to lead. This kind of exposure is the most dangerous and can normally be detected by using Fluoro-Spec. Any ceramic that glows probably will give off lead by direct exposure. Meaning a part of the dish, decoration or surface coating is removed by casual touch in large amounts. This normally happens when the dish has lead in the 10,000 or higher range or has decorations on its surface. The most dangerous kinds of surface decoration will release glowing lead when tested with Fluoro-Spec and it will obviously transfer onto another surface that is rubbed on the dish.

• Indirect (Leach) Exposure - if a dish does not glow with Fluoro-Spec, this indicates the level of lead inside the dish is not likely to come off by touch. However, there is a possibility of lead leaching from the surface of the ceramic object into liquid or semi liquid foods.

How Are Ceramics Tested?

Click here to read all about Ceramics Testing.

But if you just want a little overview, I test ceramics by scanning this with one of my XRF units, testing them with chemicals or by testing liquid or food that has contacted them.

Testing Information For This Object

• Direct (Touch) Exposure - Not Tested.

• Indirect (Leach) Exposure - Not tested but probably very little based on XRF, this object has not been leach tested, this section will be updated if and when that happens.

Disclaimer: The tests preformed on this object are for informational purposes only. Item lead concentration may vary by batch and this information is intended to only provide a snapshot into the elemental content to help people avoid excessive lead exposure. By using this dish you may be exposure to levels of lead from this object that are above or below risk levels described by California Office Of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)

Scanning Method: This object was scanned until the detected level of lead within the ceramic was found to be within an acceptable margin of error as determined by me. I have correlated my findings on short scan times by comparing with the results scanning ceramic objects multiple times for the maximum time setting on the unit. I have found that this NITON XL5 PLUS provides relevant readings which are not substantially different when scanning for shorter and longer times.