Vintage Tupperware ORANGE bowl: 3,380 ppm Cadmium + 935 ppm Mercury (both are extremely poisonous to humans)

ByTamara Posted: Updated:
30 Comments
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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-Federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable. Items are tested multiple times to confirm the test results for each component tested. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

Another vintage Tupperware example, orange bowl with Lid: 3,380 ppm Cadmium + 935 ppm Mercury [both are poisons for humans.]

Originally posted: March 11, 2019
Updated: December 28, 2019

To read details about the concern for toxicants in vintage Tupperware products, I encourage you to read my original article on the subject, here (and please also read the comments section and responses for the full conversation). Thank you! (Please also scroll down to see all the images, which include close-ups of the product numbers on the item pictured.)

To see more vintage Tupperware products we have tested, click on the links below (these will be live as soon as each article is published)!

When tested with an XRF instrument, the bowl pictured here had the following readings:

  • Lead (Pb): Negative / Non-Detect (ND)
  • Cadmium (Cd): 3,380 +/- 26 ppm
  • Mercury (Hg): 935 +/- 15 ppm
  • Arsenic (As):  Negative / Non-Detect (ND)
  • Barium (Ba): 4,592 +/- 69 ppm
  • Chromium (Cr): 258 +/- 38 ppm
  • Zinc (Zn): 287 +/- 9 ppm
  • Copper (Cu): 19 +/- 7 ppm
  • Bismuth (Bi): 7 +/- 3 ppm
  • Vanadium (Va): 1,901 +/- 133 ppm
  • Titanium (Ti): 1,722 +/- 177 ppm

Other metals not listed were not detected with the XRF in consumer goods mode. Tests were done for a minimum of 3-minutes and confirmed multiple times. The above numbers represent one specific test results set from one single 3-minute reading (not an average of multiple tests or similar).

Cadmium is a known carcinogen often found in red or orange cookware (plastic, metal, ceramic, and glass). Please click this link to read more about Cadmium toxicity. The amount of Cadmium in this bowl is quite concerning (and, I think we all know how toxic Mercury is)!

The consideration here is two-fold:

  1. For those who are readers on my website and NOT Tupperware users, you may not realize that these 40-plus-year-old products are still in high-frequency regular use in homes across America. Just because they are vintage does not mean they are not in daily use today; they most definitely are, as confirmed by some of the comments (and I could have perhaps guessed given the frankly unbelievable popularity of my original post on Facebook, which has now been shared more than 2,800 times and reached over 94,000 people in just about 24 hours [click the image here to read some of the hundreds of comments about this article on Facebook])!
  2. It is my understanding that common lore has supported the idea of these dishes being considered “microwave safe,” even though they are made of plastic. This means food is being heated in the dishes, and that — combined with the potential use of acidic foods in these dishes — gives me quite a concern for potential leaching, especially over time, in dishes that (one reader told me) came about in 1972. Specific acidic foods of concern would include lemon juice (pretty much any juice, really), vinegar, tomato sauce, soups, etc.

Continue reading below the image.

In response to some criticisms on my original Tupperware article:

A handful of readers asserted their concern that the measuring cups might only test positive for toxicants as a result of contamination caused by some sort of unusual usage with toxicants. While I did not expect this to be the case (based on my experience of a decade of testing consumer goods including hundreds, and perhaps thousands of vintage plastic items), I was excited to find this set of dishes (which the bowl pictured here is part of) that help disprove that concern. These bowls are in “brand-new-never-used” condition, and were sold with a tag indicating as much (at the antique store where they were purchased). However, the toxicant levels are comparable to those found in bowls that have seen normal use and wear over the years. The toxicant levels are also consistent throughout the product as there is no paint or coating — just a uniform substrate material (plastic) that makes up the entire product.

Another vintage Tupperware example, orange bowl with Lid: 3,380 ppm Cadmium + 935 ppm Mercury [both are poisons for humans.]

As alway, please let me know if you have any questions. I will do my best to answer them personally although it may take a while due to increased traffic on the site.

Thank you for reading and for sharing these articles. I am not yet covering the costs of my Lead poisoning prevention advocacy and consumer goods testing work. If you are in a position to make a contribution in support of this work, please click here for my GoFundMe link, or click here if you would like to contribute via PayPal.  I can’t thank you enough for your support in this way.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama

Another vintage Tupperware example, orange bowl with Lid: 3,380 ppm Cadmium + 935 ppm Mercury [both are poisons for humans.] Another vintage Tupperware example, orange bowl with Lid: 3,380 ppm Cadmium + 935 ppm Mercury [both are poisons for humans.] Another vintage Tupperware example, orange bowl with Lid: 3,380 ppm Cadmium + 935 ppm Mercury [both are poisons for humans.] Another vintage Tupperware example, orange bowl with Lid: 3,380 ppm Cadmium + 935 ppm Mercury [both are poisons for humans.]

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30 Comments

      1. Hi Paula – I’m going to try to get through a bunch of the unanswered questions on the blog today. Thank you for commenting!

        Tamara

        Reply

  3. Tupperware is currently tested to extremely high standards to meet the worldwide specifications required for products made and used in Europe and Japan. Not only is there not lead or arsenic found in them, they are also 100% free of BPA and Phthalates.

    Reply

    1. Hi Krissie,

      Thank you for commenting.

      While I realize your comments are likely applicable for the new products, what we are talking about here is vintage product that is nearly 50 years old (early-1970s). The problem is that people are still using these vintage products on a daily basis.

      Tamara

      Reply

  5. OMG, I used to use these (brown, orange, yellow, green) to make my lunch IN THE MICROWAVE every day at work. Who knew?? I have long since gotten rid of them, and NEVER use plastic in the microwave (actually barely ever use the microwave) anymore, but are those toxins still stored in my tissues??

    Reply

    1. HI Erika,

      It’s hard to say, but with regular use in the way you described (hot foods/microwaved) it is much more likely a possibility than (for example) if you were just drinking water out of one of the cups on a daily basis.

      I have a post about natural chelation here that you might find interesting. I use lots of garlic in our diet (for my family and especially my children): https://tamararubin.com/2017/01/natural-chelation/

      Thank you for commenting.

      Tamara

      Reply

  6. I have the orange canisters which I received as a wedding gift in 1981. I assume they are not safe. Do you know?

    Reply

    1. Hi Andreea,

      Thank you for commenting. The brand new Tupperware I have tested recently has been free of the main toxicants that I look for in my testing (Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Arsenic and Antimony.)

      Tamara

      Reply

  8. Thanks for the wonderful work you are doing. We stopped using these orange bowls last year, but now my wife is using them to store needles and sewing stuff. Is handling them occassionally still a concern.
    Thanks,
    Jon

    Reply

    1. Hello Jon,

      While the presence of Mercury (and the levels of Mercury) is quite concerning, to my knowledge it has not yet been confirmed to be leaching by any laboratory leach testing. I don’t do that kind of testing and the company’s lack of response on this issue makes me concerned that they also have not done that level of testing for these products (especially the vintage ones.) In the case of the orange bowls specifically – all the examples I have tested have been positive for similar levels. As a result I would go by the “precautionary principle” and personally I would not use them for any purpose. I would instead find a modern non-toxic alternative. Mercury is just too toxic a heavy metal to have in your life when the health implications of a certain usage (in this case, handling the item) are unknown.

      Tamara

      Reply

  9. As a former Tupperware dealer (briefly in the early 1980s) this is very alarming. We were often our own best customers because we got a nice discount on everything, and with the lifetime warranty, it was a very cost effective way to store and freeze food.

    I cringe at the thought of every using any of it again and also at the thought of throwing out several hundreds of dollars worth of products which I could never afford to replace, but I certainly can’t in good faith try to sell it at a garage sale if I’m not willing to use it myself.

    Reply

  15. What about the Modular Mates? I have red tops. Never washed in dishwasher or microwaved. Only to store dry ingredients, ie, flour sugar, oatmeal, etc. never microwave anymore. Comments please and thank you

    Reply

  16. Yes it’s the cookie cutters not the cookies to be alarmed about…I’m 86 lived through several wars riots and sunscreen and I guess the Tupperware threat..thanks for warning us

    Reply

    1. Wow – Michael – thank you for commenting. OMG and you are 86 and online! That’s so cool! most of my 86 year old friends are not so technically savvy! I haven’t actually tested the cookie cutters. If I were 86 and lived through all that (!) I might get a routine Blood Lead Level test at my next doctor appointment and if my BLL was over 0.5 micrograms per deciliter I would probably eat more garlic and drink more water! – I’m not a doctor – but that is what I would do. [We don’t use any sunscreen in our house BTW!]

      Tamara

      Reply

  17. I have many pieces of the vintage colored Tupperware that I’ve used for years. I have the lids to these bowls that I use all time for grandkids. Do you know if the red 4 piece canister set is included in the toxic testing?
    Do you know what stand Tupperware Corp is taking with the information being known to public now..

    Reply

    1. I don’t know what they look like – sorry. Can you find a link or share a picture with me, Virginia?

      Thanks!

      Tamara

      Reply

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