Netizens left a message to me, saying that many plastic tableware in supermarkets, especially children's tableware, are marked as melamine. What material is this, and is it safe and healthy to use?

(1) What is melamine tableware?

Melamine tableware is also called imitation porcelain tableware and melamine tableware. Lightweight and durable, it is widely used in public restaurants and children's tableware. When my two children were young, I also bought a lot of these bowls, spoons, forks, etc.

(2) What is the material of melamine tableware?

The material for making melamine tableware is called melamine resin, also called melamine-formaldehyde resin. As the name implies, it is a polymer formed by curing melamine and formaldehyde at high temperature. You are not unfamiliar with melamine, it is the melamine added in the 2008 Sanlu milk powder incident.

The latest carcinogenicity rating for melamine by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (ARC) is 2B, which means insufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and insufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in animals.

The Sanlu milk powder incident in 2008 aroused great attention from all over the world. Subsequently, the World Health Organization, FDA, European Food Safety Authority and other agencies have determined the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of melamine. FDA is 0.063mg, European Food Safety Authority and WHO are both 0.2mg, Canada is 0.35mg. Take FDA data as an example, that is to say, an adult weighing 60kg consumes 3.78mg of melamine per day, which may have health risks.

(3) Will melamine tableware cause health problems?

I think the safety of melamine tableware is mainly related to whether melamine will migrate.

Melamine is harmful to the body, but its short-term lethal dose is quite high (I was quite surprised to find this data). I found in the English version of Wikipedia that the LD50 of melamine is greater than 3 grams per kilogram of body weight. The lethal dose is comparable to that of ordinary edible salt. From this point of view, the toxicity of melamine is not high.

Now the question is - will the melamine in the melamine tableware migrate into the food? Will the amount migrated out have an impact on health?

In a small study conducted by researchers at Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan, 16 healthy volunteers ate hot noodle soup in melamine and ceramic bowls. It was found that melamine was detected in the urine of people who used the melamine bowls at higher levels than those who used the ceramic bowls.

Will melamine migrate to food at room temperature? The answer is yes. Researchers at 20-30 ° temperature, also observed the migration of melamine.

After the Sanlu milk powder incident in 2008, researchers paid great attention to this topic, and there were many research papers on the migration of melamine and formaldehyde. But in general, the melamine and formaldehyde migrated by qualified melamine tableware are within the TDI stipulated by FDA. In addition, the migration of melamine amount depends on food temperature, acidity, contact time, the price of tableware and whether it is standard melamine resin, because some substandard products are manufactured with cheap urea-formaldehyde resin.

(4) Are melamine tableware safe?

The safety test was conducted by the Taiwan Consumer Fund on tableware made in China, and the result was 1 in 10,000. The FDA's safety and risk assessment of melamine tableware indicates that this plastic tableware is safe to use. But there are some limitations, and they recommend following three tips to ensure the safest way to use these utensils.

Do not use melamine utensils for infants or young children, especially do not use melamine utensils for formula milk.

Never serve hot food or beverages on melamine utensils and do not reheat them in the microwave

Avoid high-acid foods

In addition, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration also recommends that scratched or worn tableware should be replaced immediately. It is best to avoid using excessively bright and colorful melamine tableware. When cleaning, neutral detergents must be used, and ultraviolet sterilization should not be used.

(5) How to choose safe melamine tableware?

There are many kinds of products on the market, so pay attention to the following 3 points when purchasing:

Buy qualified products through regular channels
Whether there is QS logo, manufacturer and other information on the package
Try to choose the true color of melamine resin, that is, white tableware
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