Comments on: Are Melamine Plates Safe?

By: Bernice W.

Bernice W. — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:04:44 +0000

I have had Corelle dishes shatter into zillions of tiny, sharp shards when they were dropped. It doesn’t happen often, but they should not be considered unbreakable.

I really doubt that enough melamine will leach from dishes to be harmful. They have been used since the 1960s, after all, with no reports of problems from normal use.

By: Franky

Franky — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:52:12 +0000

There is no doubt that melamine added to food is harmful. However, I wonder how much of that substance is released from the plate.

By: Sarah Caron

Sarah Caron — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:53:47 +0000

Hi Heather,

Good question — and a hard one to answer. Look at the bottom of your plates first and see if there is a label or identifying marks. Sometimes it will just say melamine (but not always).

Basically melamine is a very, very, very hard plastic that many – I might go so far as to say most – plastic dinnerware is made of.

Wish I could help you more!

By: Sarah Caron

Sarah Caron — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:47:20 +0000

Hi Casey,

Thanks for the comment!

It’s really unfortunate that the prettiest mixing bowls are made from melamine. I’ve seen many that were fun and funky, but for my family and me I just can’t believe it’s as safe as its claimed to be given what melamine is made from.

Instead, I use stainless steel mixing bowls. Stainless steel is lightweight and non-reactive (which means that it won’t change the flavor of whatever food you are mixing in it). So that might work for you too — if you look around a bit (I searched for “stainless steel mixing bowls” on Amazon), you can find some that are stainless on the inside with a colored exterior.

Hope that helps!

By: Casey

Casey — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:30:42 +0000

I was just given a set of very pretty Melamine mixing bowls. I like them because they are light and colorful. Now I am wondering if I should very nicley give them back to the giver and look for something else. If so what? I want something that is light weight and not hard to lift. What can you suggest?
Casey

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:09:39 +0000

How do you know if your plates or other plasticware or containers are made with melamine?

By: Is Melamine Safe? « Family Health & Parenting

Is Melamine Safe? « Family Health & Parenting — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:18:22 +0000

[...] reader asked this as I was just looking into this myself. It looks like they are not the safest. Another mom has also researched [...]

By: Juan

Juan — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 06:12:00 +0000

I do not know if they are safe. I do know that in the pet food situation, the melamine was added intentionally so that it appeared to have a higher nitrogen (used to measure protein) content. They were surprised it was that toxic and actually there have been cases of cats with the characteristic crystals in the urine from melamine that ate food not positive for melamine. So they are not sure if it was the melamine reacting with something else or something else!

By: Charlie

Charlie — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 07:02:00 +0000

I was concerned too. And bummed, because I love my kitchy melamine plates, but alas I’m gonna throw them out…along with my baby bottles and sippy cups that contain bisphenol A. Oye! ‘gotta be careful!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 15 May 2007 15:56:00 +0000

All my life i had been using glass plates……but as i went to another country over there i had been using these melamine plates for a year……recently in papers i had seen its was banned in the country which i use to live in……and now i came to know the reason why i am still not settled with home food…..as when ever i have home food it causes me indigestion and lazyness……and when i had outside food everything goes fine……these plates sucks and i am going to throw it now itself!