By Certain brands of imported cookware are likely to leach “significant levels” of lead into food, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a consumer warning Friday.
Officials tested a number of cookware products made from aluminum, brass and aluminum alloys known as “Hindalium” and “Indalium” and determined that they may release lead into food during the cooking process, the FDA said.
No level of lead is safe for human ingestion. Young children, women of childbearing age and mothers who are breastfeeding face the highest health risks in eating food tainted with the toxic metal, officials said.
The FDA said consumers should refrain from using cookware bearing the brand names Tiger White, Silver Horse and JK Vallabhdas. Federal officials said they were in the process of contacting distributors of the merchandise and warned that the items could still be on store shelves.
How does lead get into cookware?
In a report earlier this year, the Journal of Hazardous Materials said aluminum recycling in some countries may lack quality controls that filter out impurities.
“The Pb-containing alloys may be included inadvertently when aluminum feedstock includes scrap metal items such as discarded engine parts, vehicle radiators, computer parts, old aluminum pots, and various other materials,” the journal said.
Lead “may also be intentionally added to metallic alloys, including aluminum, to increase the machinability of the metal,” according to the article.