Le Creuset Red & Creme Colored Ceramic Mixing Bowl: 40,700 ppm Lead. [For context, 90 ppm is unsafe for children’s items.]

Le Creuset Ceramics

Le Creuset brand red & cream-colored ceramic mixing bowl. Newer model [c. 2014 or earlier – exact year of manufacture unknown]. When tested with with an XRF instrument the bowl pictured here had the following readings:

Outside Reading (Red Glaze):

• 40,700 ppm Lead

Inside Reading (Cream Glaze):

• 117 ppm Lead

Test results are science-based, replicable, and accurate. Results reported on this blog are for tests done using a freshly-calibrated XRF instrument, testing in Consumer Goods mode, for at least 60 seconds per test (unless otherwise noted). Tests are repeated multiple times on each component, to confirm the results.

---

Some additional reading that may be of interest:

• For LEAD-FREE mixing bowl choices, click HERE.
• For more safer choices in kitchenware options, click here.
• More items from Le Creuset that have been tested and posted here on this website.
• To see more mixing bowls I have tested, click here.

---

Will I be poisoned from using one of these bowls?

I am not saying this particular bowl will poison the people using it (you will not likely test positive with a measurable Blood Lead Level from use of a single Leaded item like this bowl), however we should avoid Lead from all sources, as our personal Lead exposure is an aggregate of impacts from all of the contributing sources over the course of our life.  Given that all scientists and regulatory agencies agree that there is no safe level of Lead exposure for humans, there is no reason for one of the most potent neurotoxins known to man (Lead!) to be in our cookware, period. Please Click HERE to read more about the concern for Lead in pottery.

IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: If this were a coffee mug, however (with Lead levels the high) I would have definite concerns for potential measurable exposure from it as a single source (especially given coffee is acidic, and daily consumption of coffee from a high-Lead vessel is likely to deteriorate the finish of the item over time to the point of possible leaching). Le Creuset is near the top of my list of brands to avoid — given their terrible track record of flagrant/unapologetic use of – high levels of – toxic heavy metals in their products across the board, right up through recent years. I would never own or use one of their products – both from a practical perspective (exposure risk concerns with both their vintage and newer brightly-colored products, especially) AND from a political/environmental/ethical perspective (since the company has never made a public statement or issued a recall related to the historic and current use of high levels of toxic heavy metals in both their ceramic pieces and cast iron enameled cookware.) Le Creuset products normally test positive for nigh levels of Lead or Cadmium (and in many cases they test positive for both),

---

How much Lead is “too much” Lead?

Total Lead content in dishware, as measurable with XRF analysis, is not regulated or limited in any way [except in items explicitly marketed for use by children] – however, for context: 90 ppm Lead (or higher) is considered unsafe (and illegal) in the paint, glaze or coating of any item manufactured today that is intended for use by children; 100 ppm Lead is unsafe/illegal in the substrate of currently-manufactured items intended for children. Mixing bowls (and dishes) – bizarrely – are not considered to be items intended for use by children. Total Lead content as detectable with an XRF (which is distinctly different from leach test-detectable Lead —which represents just any Lead that might be leaching at the time of manufacture) is not regulated in modern (nor vintage/antique) dishware.

Thank you for reading and for sharing Lead Safe Mama posts! Please let me know if you have any questions. I will do my best to answer them personally as soon as I have a moment.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Owner – Lead Safe Mama, LLC