Why You Might Want to Get Rid of Your Black, Plastic Kitchen Utensils

Look, I like to believe that if black plastic kitchen utensils were that dangerous, manufacturers wouldn't use black plastic to make products, but here we are.

At this point, is it that difficult to just buy a different color spatula or a big plastic spoon? Mine are white with gold handles. I also have a couple of green plastic utensils and a pink one.

According to The Cut, we started hearing about the dangers of black plastic filled with chemicals coming into contact with our food nearly 10 years ago.

Because recycling machines can't recognize the color black, black plastic, like electronics, often lands in our landfills. It's those discarded electronics that are treated with various chemicals and used to make that black spatula to flip your fried egg or your favorite black plastic spoon to dish veggies.

According to The Cut, lead, mercury, and flame retardants were found in 40 percent of black plastic products. Since the 2018 discovery, most flame retardants and other chemicals found in black plastics have been banned across the country.

However, the latest report basically says you get what you pay for.

Thanks to an unregulated global plastic recycling economy, that plastic supply chain means those cheap black plastic utensils may still contain banned chemicals. I guess that $7 spatula isn't such a good deal after all.

This said, according to the Slate website, while these various poisonous compounds are found in some black plastic cooking products and occasionally at high levels, most were less than 0.001 percent retardant.

Yeah, that doesn't personally make me feel better. If I had any cheap kitchen utensils made from black plastic, I'd throw them away. It's not like we don't have loads of choices out there.

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Gallery Credit: Rob Carroll