XRF test results for Andstar natural bamboo placemats – made in China (Amazon purchase – 2022)

Wednesday – April 27, 2022 

I purchased these for our home. I like to use these both as placemats for meals and as a mat to put drying dishes on or as mats for the kids to use for art projects. I also like to use them as background for photos for my work (photos of items I take for this website). I love the fact that they are natural bamboo – and appear to be untreated. I bought this particular set primarily to use as a liner on my kitchen shelves – to put under my dishes. They tested negative for any metals when tested with an XRF Instrument. I had never bought this brand before (we normally purchase items like this at our local Asian markets) but wanted to see what the quality was like from an Amazon purchase. 

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Some considerations:

• Right after opening the package I noticed these smell funny — I believe it is an odor from the plastic packaging —  and I intend to set them out for a few days (and maybe even set them outside on our picnic table in the sun for a day or two) to make sure the “new-plastic-packaged-product” smell fully dissipates before using them for any food-use / meal-use purposes in our home.
• I chose to test these because I had heard – about 10 years ago – that some bamboo food-use products (manufactured in China) tested positive for unsafe levels of Lead. I believe the products in question (specifically there was an issue with chopsticks that was covered in the news) had been treated with a Lead-based sealant, although I never had the opportunity to test those myself  [I will look for the news story and link it here as soon as I find it]. So I was curious whether or not this might still be a problem with some modern bamboo products made in China…and I was happy to learn that not only did these test negative for Lead — there were absolutely NO metals detected!
• I chose these particular bamboo mats because they were the largest ones I could find (to help cover more real estate on my kitchen shelves). They were also inexpensive — and there are eight mats in the set. 
• If you wanted to use something like this for sushi rolling (rather than just as a placemat), I would make sure to let them air out, and to wash them thoroughly before using them for that purpose.
• There are others that are specifically sold for sushi-rolling, and you may want to get a product specifically sold for that purpose if that is what you intend to use it for (given these are not labeled or sold as being explicitly intended for use directly in food preparation, and some others may be more appropriate or superior for that use.)

Affiliate link for this product: https://amzn.to/3LqN69I

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60-second test
Repeated multiple times to confirm the results

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Bromine (Br): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• No metals detected in consumer goods mode.

To see more bamboo products that have been tested and reported on here on this website, click here.

Amazon inks are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on a Lead Safe Mama Amazon affiliate link, Lead Safe Mama, LLC may receive a percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you.

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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a Federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children. Tamara’s sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in August of 2005. She began testing consumer goods for toxicants in 2009 and was the parent-advocate responsible for finding Lead in the popular fidget spinner toys in 2017. Tamara uses XRF testing (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 and reported on. Please click through to this link to learn more about the testing methodology used for the test results discussed and reported on this website.