A Pragmatic approach to Steel over Plastic and Melamine

Hi All, 

We work hard all the day to fill in our bowls and plates with healthy meals. Good kitchenware (cookware and storage ware) is an integral part of any cooking and can have a substantial amount of impact on our health. Therefore, its important to know the pros and cons of different storage materials, so as we can make safe choices for our kitchen. Nowadays, easy availability, economical  purchase, colourful designs , prints, shapes has made us cover our kitchen with plastic and melamine. There has been a lot of buzz around these days about - to what extent plastic and melamine are safe to use in kitchen - both for cooking and storage as well.

So, as we progress in this article, I have tried to fill in the basic information in context to these storage products . While selecting the vessels and containers, my focus has always been on - to minimise the quantity of metal absorption into the food. Lets first get insight to what these materials are:

1. Plastic-  As market floors were flooded with these easy to use, colourful, bright, light weight vessels and containers, I too had got attracted to buy them, especially because they were available in more than the standard sizes. The label that caught my attention was- BPA Free, which was not mentioned on all plastic products. The few of them that were labelled, were kid’s water bottles, sippers, tiffins, snack boxes, but, most of the other vessels and containers did not had this label.

So, what is plastic?  What is BPA? Plastic is a synthetic material made from a wide range  of polymers like nylon, polyethylene, etc that can be moulded into different shapes while soft into a rigid or slightly flexible vessel or container. BPA stands for Bisphenol A- a kind of special chemical used in industries for making plastic.

When Plastic comes in contact with food (hot food especially) , there is a major risk of some of that plastic and bisphenol A,  reacting with the content(s) of the  food (especially spice/ vinegar/ citric/ tomatoes etc). Some researches show that BPA can seep deep into the food or even beverages. BPA also have impact on brain, developmental growth of fetuses, infants and children. However, the plasticware having the label of been BPA free, too has some age, in use, not appearance wise; due to the base of chemicals it is made up of from.

My daughter’s paediatrician once suggested me to slowly shift from plastic to steel tiffins, water  bottles, the vessels and the storage containers. This lead me to go through many research papers written by specialists on the usage of plastic and its impact in life.

A new study says that even if plastic don't contain BPA, most of its products release estrogenic chemicals. George Bittner, one of the study's authors and a professor of biology at the University of Texas, Austin and his testing company CertiChem, chopped up pieces of some plastic product and soaked them in either saltwater or alcohol to see what came out. The testing showed that more than 70 percent of the products released chemicals that acted like estrogen. (refer to-http://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134196209/study-most-plastics-leach-hormone-like-chemicals). Estrogen is the primary female sex hormone. Among other roles, it promotes the development and maintenance of female characteristics in the human body. It plays an important role throughout a woman's life. In teens, estrogen contributes to healthy bone growth and development and influences reproductive processes. However, use of more plastic products brings up  estrogen level and leads to set in early puberty in the girl child. To some extent, its affects the fertility level also. (refer to- 

http://www.livestrong.com/article/245567-what-effects-does-estrogen-have-on-an-adolescent-girl/)

2. Melamine- Melamine is basically a chemical used in making plastics tableware. It is added so as to mould, to create tableware, when heated. Melamine plates, bowls and cups are hard plastic dishes that are extremely durable, crack-proof and come in a wide array of shapes, colours and patterns. They have a distinct smooth texture also. 

Researches say that there is a potential risk of contamination of food with this chemical from the tableware as it leaches into the food, mostly if the food is hot or acidic. Microwaving food in plastic containers or melamine (even microwave-safe plastic) is a big-health no-no.

3. Steel- Steel is an iron-carbon alloy that does not undergo eutectic (a mixture of substances that melts and freezes at a single temp that is lower than the melting point of the constituents). Stainless steel is more stable than the other metals used for cookware  and storage as well, as it does not leach significantly into the food. They do not get scratched easily. Another, its tough, does not chip and hard to break too. Steel has replaced many materials like plastic, aluminium in  a big way due to its strength, life span, durability and easy handling. Its dish washer safe too. It is not only used in households all over the world, and also by the professional chefs. It is dent and scratch resistant. It can go to the refrigerator easily. Struck food will generally come-off with a little elbow grease. Researches that resulted in showing the effect of estrogen chemical of the container to food, suggested to even store all the raw food material also in steel containers. As per an Indian family’s kitchen, raw-lentils (daals), rice , flour, sugar, tea, coffee powder, spices, from tamarind to jaggery powder, biscuits, cookies, chips- everything is advised to go to steel containers.

After spending considerable time in choosing and preparing nutritious food for our families, it can be pretty frustrating to learn that the products we are using to cook, bake, eat and store food with may actually put our families health at risk. The good news is- there are many safer alternatives as well as things you can opt. Crux is that steel is a safer metal to be used in kitchen for storage purpose, over melamine and plastic. Melamine and plastic are not recyclables. It makes a real eco-conundrum if you want to get rid of melamine and plastic kitchenwares.

I have, slowly and gradually shifted from plastic - melamine to steel. Replacing each and every in the kitchen to steel in a single leap can be difficult. So, we can always prioritise and initiate steps. I would also like to mention that there are many containers available in the market whose lid has a glass shield in it to make the container a see-through for an easy use. To mark, its a short term investment for reaping long term returns.

Points to consider

• Start with replacing the tiffin boxes, water bottles first. Especially, for the kids. It gives an immense satisfaction when we step-up for their health benefit.

• Follow-up with the replacement of spice-box (masala-box), tea, sugar and coffee container. A combo for such is available too.  

• Count your additional spices and replace them with steel containers having see through lid. 

• Count your containers for lentils/ rice/flour etc for the next replacement.

• Steel sprinklers for powdered spices like cumin powder, black pepper powder, cardamom powder etc are also available. 

• Small steel tub shape containers for cut-fruit , salad etc for putting in fridge .

This is how i did! 

Signing-off for today. Hope this article would help you to think once more when you make a next purchase of vessels and containers. I will save the discussion on cookwares for another day. 

Upasana