Carol Schmidt
Aug 27, 2004, 10:44 PM
Post #13 of 13
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I used to own a ceramics store, and my students made many food items. I made and used many ceramic dishes myself. I knew mine were all fired at the appropriate temps for each glaze and there were no possible problems
From the ceramics glazes manufacturers, I learned that clear glaze, the white innards of most of your ceramics pieces for food use, does not contain glaze and is perfectly safe no matter how poorly a dish is made or fired or glazed.
As said above, it is the red and yellow colors in particular which could be unsafe if not fired in a hot-enough kiln. Since some Mexican kilns are wood-fed and might have irregularities in temperatures, I too would take precautions in using brightly colored pieces for food. They might still have very old glazes around that still contain lead, or the glazes could have been made poorly in another country with no lead safety standards.
But also as said above, the problem is not something that happens in an hour over a dinner--the only danger could be if something with high acid content (salsas, lime, tomato or vinegar in the recipes, for example) is stored in a colorful, underfired ceramic dish for a long time.
It was never said how long a long time is, but we were all assured that a few hours was no biggie even for the worst possible scenario--such as a piece with an antiquated red glaze with lead not fired high enough and acidic food served in it for a long dinner.
When I bought a fancy set of dinnerware from the Ken Edwards factory in Tocolo near Quadalajara, I was assured again that anything from a company which ships to the U.S. has to follow U.S. standards for ceramic glazes and all colors are perfectly safe. It's not a big deal to be careful with dishes made from an unknown potter to just take the food or beverage out before storing.
And I would always be careful placing any kind of ceramic in the microwave other than Pyrex. A piece that heats up does not mean necessarily that it has lead--lots more reasons could cause microwave heat buildup, such as uneven thickness of the ceramic.
And of course if you have a ceramic with a gold opr silver or other metallic design don't use the microwave, just as you don't put anything metal in the microwave.
Carol Schmidt
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