June 5, 2022 – Sunday
Since the *new* (May of 2022) drama and flurry of activity started around the Lead Safe Mama, LLC work exposing the presence of toxic heavy metals (Lead, Cadmium and Arsenic specifically) in the painted decorations on vintage (and even on newer) Corelle dishware, Corelle drafted and issued a public statement that they have been copying and pasting as a response to anyone with concerns. About a dozen Lead Safe Mama readers have shared this with me over the past couple of weeks and I wanted to make sure to share it here for those of you who have not yet seen this (more official) response. I will be writing a follow up article shortly (as soon as I can round up some childcare!) tearing this response apart (oops – I mean “breaking it down”) – point by point, sentence by sentence… to expose the blatant / overt greenwashing and bullshit in the response. So please do stand by for that! – Tamara
Here’s one copy of the response that was shared with me on Jun 1, 2022
Here’s the full text for that response
This one was shared with me from a reader who received it on May 27, 2022
Hello Michele,
Thank you for being a customer. We are very proud of our Corelle products, which are made of Vitrelle, a tempered glass consisting of glass laminated into three layers. Corelle was first introduced by Corning over 50 years ago and in 2000 started to be manufactured by the company known today as Instant Brands. All Corelle products meet the safety standards at the time of manufacturing.As manufacturing and regulatory practices have evolved, so have Corelle products. We routinely test Corelle products for lead and cadmium contents at internationally recognized, third-party testing laboratories. This testing confirms that our products comply with applicable federal and state safety regulations.
Corelle dinnerware has come in many different patterns over the years since it was first introduced by Corning and continued with Instant Brands, and many vintage/legacy pieces have become cherished collectors’ items. Before 2000, and before tighter lead content safety regulations, a small amount of lead was an ingredient in the decorating process of many household products. Given the recent demand for use of vintage products every day, we are further investigating pre-2000 Corelle products to confirm they comply with today’s safety standards – and whether it’s okay to use pre-2000 product as everyday dinnerware.
Whatever way you choose to enjoy your Corelle products, either decoratively or at your table every day, we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
Sincerely,
Instant Brands Consumer Care
Hello! I am not sure if you have seen this, but Corelle seems to have updated their response after conducting leaching tests.
“ARE CORELLE® PRODUCTS LEAD-FREE?
We are very proud of our Corelle products, which are made of Vitrelle, a tempered glass consisting of glass laminated into three layers. Corelle was first introduced by Corning over 50 years ago and in 2000 started to be manufactured by the company known today as Instant Brands. All Corelle products meet the safety standards at the time of manufacturing.
As manufacturing and regulatory practices have evolved, so have Corelle products. We routinely test Corelle products for lead and cadmium contents at internationally recognized, third-party testing laboratories. This testing confirms that our products comply with applicable federal and state safety regulations.
Corelle dinnerware has come in many different patterns over the years since it was first introduced by Corning and continued with Instant Brands, and many vintage/legacy pieces have become cherished collectors’ items. Before 2000, and before tighter lead content safety regulations, a small amount of lead was an ingredient in the decorating process of many household products. Instant Brands has conducted additional testing with an outside laboratory to determine whether vintage Corelle products made before 2000 comply with today’s consumer [your] expectations as to safety and whether it’s ok to use them as everyday dinnerware. The Company selected multiple patterns of vintage Corelle products, dating back to 1978 for testing.
The food surface contact testing was designed to identify whether any small amount of lead that may have existed in pre-2000 manufactured Corelle product leaches from the product in amounts above today’s acceptable lead-safety regulations. The small amount of lead used in decorations pre-2000 was encapsulated in glass before and after the decoration was applied to product and fired to above 750C. The Corelle manufacturing process has always encapsulated decoration in glass, using extremely high processing temperatures to ensure the glass decorations are sealed, which prevents food contact and intentionally decreases the extent of any lead migration to food.
The testing confirms that the vintage products tested comply with current FDA lead-safety regulations – so feel free to use them for everyday dinnerware.“
Thanks for sharing that here.
I still do need to take that apart, as I don’t believe their testing likely tested vintage products with normal wear over 40 years (more likely that they tested new-in-box condition vintage products that had no wear – and that’s never been the concern hat I have brought up.)
Plus the “small amounts of Lead” line is BS given the very large amounts of Lead we have found in their products using XRF technology (large for dishware).
Finally – given the decorative patterns also often test positive with a reactive agent test kit (home test kit) when they are well worn I also strongly question their statement that the decorative patterns are under glass. You can feel the patterns on the surface – and the patterns on the surface are often worn with heavy use – so that would be the concern.
This is outlined here in my overview post:
https://tamararubin.com/topics/does-vintage-and-new-functional-pottery-and-dishware-have-unsafe-levels-of-lead/
For me this is a greenwashing way for them to state that – yes – they have historically used lead in their products (confirming my findings)… #Sigh.
Thank you so much for sharing this with me here! Other readers have also shared it via email (I haven’t had a moment to write a post dissecting it – but my main points are here in this comment.)
Tamara
Are there any at-home test kits that you recommend? I have some Corelle that I’m not sure of age, plus my grandmothers Merry Mushroom canister set, that I’d like to check.
Hi, I writed to Corelle about 3 weeks ago and they still use this reply. Also, because of what i’ve read on this website, I’ve purcharse the Winter frost ones cause they are plai. and supposed to be white even though they are a little blueishh. Did you test it by any chance? The one that you recommended were bo and I wanted to change asap. Hope it is okay…
Anyway, this is the email i received today:
“Hello Christina,
Thanks for reaching out. We are happy to assist you with your inquiry.
Instant Brands has conducted additional testing with an outside laboratory to determine whether vintage Corelle products made before 2000 comply with today’s consumer [your] expectations as to safety and whether it’s ok to use them as every-day dinnerware. The Company selected multiple patterns of vintage Corelle products, dating back to 1978 for testing.
The food surface contact testing was designed to identify whether any small amount of lead that may have existed in pre-2000 manufactured Corelle product leaches from the product in amounts above today’s acceptable lead-safety regulations. The small amount of lead used in decorations pre-2000 was encapsulated in glass before and after the decoration was applied to product and fired to above 750C. The Corelle manufacturing process has always encapsulated decoration in glass, using extremely high processing temperatures to ensure the glass decorations are sealed, which prevents food contact and intentionally decreases the extent of any lead migration to food.
The testing confirms that the vintage products tested comply with current FDA lead-safety regulations – so feel free to use them for every-day dinnerware.
Regards,
Instant Brands”
I really don’t know what to tell them. Any suggestion?
Thank you for all you are doing.
I was about to purchase the Corelle Winter Frost, but saw the Prop 65 warning so passing on those. Back to the drawing board.
I think that is there as a CYA.
Is it only the pattern that contains the lead, cadmium, arsenic on these Corelle dishware or within the glaze itself?
Would like to know this too! We have the bowls with blue flowers around the outside. I wonder if that would be less of a concern?
Isn’t the deco only on the edges were food doesn’t real touch? The main part, where food sits is plain. Doent that make the concern of exposure far less likely?
No – if you actually explored that (trying to keep the food away from the paint) it’s nearly impossible, plus read the two articles below for context:
1. https://tamararubin.com/2020/07/if-the-lead-is-only-on-the-outside-of-my-dish-measuring-cup-mixing-bowl-etc-why-does-it-matter-that-it-has-lead/
2. https://tamararubin.com/2019/03/the-sugar-packet-analogy-how-much-lead-dust-does-it-take-to-poison-a-child/
Are you sure your test kit isn’t simply registering the lead underneath the glaze? So it is still sealed and encapsulated and won’t leach but the test will pick it up, either way.
Also, xrf technology requires licensing for proper testing and it is known to produce false positives.
Also, the glaze for Corelle is heated to 750 degrees essentially baking everything together. Your couple hundred degrees of use in the dishwasher or serving hot food do not come close to this temp, which is used to seal in the lead.
I have my doubts that this is a true concern but it has caused a lot of concern for the public. To me, it seems if this were truly a concern the government would have stepped in and/or we would have seen a massive outbreak of lead poisoning from Corelle dish users. Those Corelle dishes were built to last. And they generally look as good as the day they were purchased, no defects in the glaze. I’m no expert but I do have questions and we certainly need better investigating than someone testing a few plates at home.
Please watch the videos at the top of this article:
https://tamararubin.com/2022/08/breaking-news-august-2022-corelle-instant-brands-confirms-but-downplays-the-presence-of-leaded-glaze-used-for-the-food-surface-decorations-of-their-vintage-dishware/
Are the newer non-decorated, white corelle dishes lead free?
Yes
I recently bought 28 oz Winter Frost White bowls from Corelle and the back of the sticker says that This product contains Cadmium. What is your opinion on that?
Thank you.
I have not found these to test positive for Cadmium (in 15+ years of testing these products).
T