Is Melamine Tableware Safe

Is melamine tableware safe?

  On May 5, 2024, Liu Jinpeng, senior engineer of the Hebei Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Institute, said in an interview that melamine tableware processed and produced in accordance with national standards will not cause harm to the human body as long as it is used properly.

  Melamine tableware looks like ceramics, but it is actually made of plastic. Unlike ordinary plastics, the main raw material of this plastic used for tableware is high-purity melamine resin, also known as melamine formaldehyde resin, which is a polymer compound formed by thermal curing of melamine and formaldehyde under high temperature conditions.

  Many people are worried: Will melamine and formaldehyde seep into food and drinks from melamine tableware and affect health?

  Liu Jinpeng said: At present, the production of melamine tableware using melamine formaldehyde resin as raw material is a relatively mature process. As a thermosetting plastic, the cured melamine formaldehyde resin is relatively stable below 120 degrees Celsius, and is neither soluble nor meltable. In other words, melamine resin tableware produced strictly in accordance with national standards and of qualified quality will hardly produce toxic, free melamine and formaldehyde monomers during normal use, and therefore will not cause harm to humans.

  Judging from the random inspection results of the regulatory authorities, the overall quality of melamine products currently sold through formal channels on the market is good, and the "death bowls" that have caused concerns and doubts are all unqualified products.

  The main reason for the appearance of substandard products is that some small manufacturers fail to properly control parameters such as temperature, pressure and molding time during the production process. In addition, because the cost of melamine is relatively high, some unscrupulous companies mix urea-formaldehyde resin, which is cheaper, less stable and easy to release formaldehyde, into the raw materials.