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Lead in Ceramic Dishes: Which Pieces FDA Warns About and How to Use Them Safely

Eyal Barta •
#Heavy Metals#Lead#Kitchen

FDA says it has received reports that traditional pottery from several manufacturers in Mexico labeled as “lead free” actually held extractable lead at levels similar to lead-glazed pottery. In some cases, the levels were above FDA’s action levels. That gap between the label and the glaze is the main thing to understand.

By the end, you will know how lead gets into food, which leachable-lead limits FDA enforces, what a legal warning label looks like and how to check a piece step by step.

How lead gets from the glaze into your food

The problem starts in the kiln. Traditional pottery is earthenware, a porous clay that must be glazed before it can hold food or liquid. A glaze may contain lead because lead helps the glaze particles melt. If the piece is fired at the right temperature for the right amount of time, FDA says essentially all the lead is bound into the glaze.

Lead can leach into food or drinks that are prepared, stored, or served in the dish. A patient and her son boiled water and cooked food and tea in ceramic pots and mugs bought in Mexico. The clay itself had no lead, but the glaze was 17% lead by weight. The son, who used the mug less often than his mother did, still had an elevated blood lead level of 0.95 μmol/L.

Wear and acid make it worse. CDC notes that lead can leach out when the glaze has broken down because of wear from daily usage, particularly after repeated use in a microwave or dishwasher, and that chips and cracks in ceramic ware also allow leaching of lead. Acidic juices such as orange and apple juice promote leaching of lead from ceramics.

Acidic drinks get specific attention in the federal rules. FDA defines pitchers as vessels commonly used for fruit and vegetable juices or other acidic beverages. Pitchers face the same strict limit as cups and mugs.

A glazed terra cotta cooking pot sitting next to an open kiln with glowing heating elements, showing the glossy surface coating on the clay.

The limits FDA enforces, by item type

FDA’s Compliance Policy Guide Sec. 545.450 sets guidelines in micrograms of lead per mL of leaching solution examined on 6 units, with guidelines varying by category: flatware averaged over 6 units at 3.0 micrograms/mL, small hollowware other than cups and mugs at 2.0 micrograms/mL for any one of 6 units, cups/mugs at 0.5 micrograms/mL for any one of 6 units, large hollowware other than pitchers at 1.0 micrograms/mL for any one of 6 units, and pitchers at 0.5 micrograms/mL for any one of 6 units. The listed lab methods include ASTM method C738, AOAC methods 973.32 and 973.82, and FDA Laboratory Information Bulletin Numbers 4123 and 4126.

CategoryCriteriaGuideline (micrograms/mL)
Flatwareaverage of 6 units3.0
Small Hollowware other than cups and mugsany one of 6 units2.0
Cups/mugsany one of 6 units0.5
Large Hollowware other than pitchersany one of 6 units1.0
Pitchersany one of 6 units0.5

Source: CPG Sec. 545.450

“Flatware” means a piece with an internal depth that does not exceed 25 mm. Creamers, coffeepots and teapots are not counted as pitchers. They are graded as small or large hollowware depending on capacity.

These numbers have held steady for a long time. The CPG was issued 10/1/80, revised 4/16/92, 12/12/95 (60 FR 63721) and 5/2005, and updated 11/29/05. FDA’s Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool still lists 0.5 µg/ml for cups and mugs and 2 µg/ml for small hollowware. FDA says it last updated that tool on March 20, 2025.

Federal rules spell out the warning. A decorative piece is treated as unsuitable for food use if it bears two things: a conspicuous stick-on label, in letters at least 3.2 mm (0.125 inches) tall, with one of these messages: “Not for Food Use. May Poison Food,” “Not for Food-Use. Glaze contains lead. Food Use May Result in Lead Poisoning,” or “Not for Food Use -Food Consumed from this Vessel [Plate] May be Harmful”, and the same message as a permanent statement molded or fired onto the exterior surface of the base. Items that can qualify as ornamental include commemorative plates, souvenir plates, hand-painted plates and other highly decorated plates.

Stick-on labels have a weakness. In guidance, FDA says it has received reports of imported pottery bearing the warning on its packaging, but not on the item itself. FDA warns that people may assume a piece is safe for food after the packaging is discarded and/or the stick-on label is removed. A secondhand bowl with no label tells you nothing about whether it is safe.

How FDA screens imported ceramic dishes for lead

FDA uses CPG Sec. 545.450 criteria that should be considered in deciding whether to recommend legal action or detain imports. If only one sampled lot fails, the entire entry may be detained without further analysis. A study explains the next step: if a factory brings one item found to be out of compliance, all future items are automatically detained by the FDA at US ports until it can be proven that they meet FDA requirements.

FDA also keeps a Red List of firms whose shipments can be detained without physical examination. Ceramics firms sit on it under Import Alert 99-45, FDA’s alert for food products that are or contain an unsafe food additive, with entries such as bowls; decorated clay salsa bowls; clay pots and a clay platter flagged under the problem code LEAD. Many of those entries note that this firm is from deactivated import alert 52-08.

Border checks still miss some products. The same study found that some products from non-certified producers continue to reach the USA unregulated. The researchers bought 132 items, 46 outside of and 86 within Chinatown, and screened each one with a color-change swab. 21 items from inside Chinatown and 4 from outside screened positive, but when the positive items were leached in the lab, five items quantitatively tested positive for lead exceeding FDA action levels, all of them bought inside Chinatown. That is what a home kit can and cannot tell you: a swab flags a piece for a closer look, but it does not measure how much lead would reach your food.

Step by step: checking a piece you already own

  1. Look for the warning on the piece itself. In accordance with 21 CFR 109.16(b), the article will be considered unsuitable for food use if it bears one of the label messages above.
  2. Don’t rely on “lead free.” FDA has confirmed some reports of pottery labeled “Lead Free” that contained extractable lead.
  3. Swab the surface that touches food. FDA notes that lead-testing kits are sold in hardware stores or online. In most kits, the swab changes color if lead leaches onto it.
  4. Act on a positive result. If the test shows leachable lead, FDA strongly advises against using the piece for cooking, serving, or storing food or drinks. Washing will not fix it: FDA says no amount of washing, boiling, or other process can remove lead from pottery.
  5. Retire chipped or worn pieces, and keep acidic food and juice out of anything you are unsure of. CDC links leaching to chips and cracks and to acidic juices.
  6. Treat unknown pieces as suspect. If you can’t test a piece or confirm it came from a reliable manufacturer, FDA says to consider not using it for food.
  7. Check on children who used the piece. FDA notes that a child with lead poisoning may not look or act sick. Stop using the item and ask a healthcare professional about a blood lead test.

Removing the source

The case report calls identification of the lead source and removal of the patient from exposure the most important step in treating lead toxicity. Lead in the blood has a half-life of about 30 days, so levels can drop once the exposure stops. That only happens if the pot moves from the stove to the display shelf for good.

Sources

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