Are Melamine Plates Safe?
Melamine is a chemical that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for a variety of uses, including cooking utensils, plastic products, and industrial coatings, among other things. But historical misuse of this chemical, as well as some research in lab settings, may cause many people to wonder if melamine dinnerware is safe for them.
“Melamine is infamous as an illegal adulterant in pet food and children’s milk formulas, resulting in the deaths of six children and kidney problems in many more,” says Ian Musgrave, a molecular pharmacologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia. In 2008, at least 22 manufacturers of powdered baby formula in China were discovered to have been illegally fortifying their baby formula with melamine. “However, there is no good evidence that the minute amounts we consume in our diets have any effect on people in general.”
Additionally, some research has shown that some melamine bowls can leach melamine into food if the bowl holds extremely hot soup (194° F) for at least 30 minutes. But these conditions aren’t likely to match up with how most people consume their food, and even then, the amount of melamine absorbed into the bloodstream was much lower than what the FDA allows, according to Musgrave. “The absorbed melamine was very rapidly excreted, and the total levels excreted suggest an exposure to melamine [less than one-six-hundredth the amount of] the most stringent exposure limit set by the U.S. FDA,” he says. “This is despite the researchers using a brand of melamine ware with the highest melamine leaching on contact with hot fluids.” Most families probably don’t use their melamine dishware in this fashion, he says.
