this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2024
3 points (100.0% liked)

Cast Iron

2037 readers
1 users here now

A community for cast iron cookware. Recipes, care, restoration, identification, etc.

Rules: Be helpful when you can, be respectful always, and keep cooking bacon.

More rules may come as the community grows, but for now, I'll remove spam or anything obviously mean-spirited, and leave it at that.

Related Communities: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/9250689

How do I test cast iron cookware for lead

So I found a griddle that was in pretty bad shape seasoning wise so I stripped it and noticed a small shiny area which worried me about lead. I ordered some lead tests that stated they were for metal (no specifics) and after doing the tests it came back positive. But this got me wondering if iron reacts with sodium rhodizonate, the main ingredient in these lead tests, to give false positives and load and behold it does. I confirmed this with another cast iron cookware that I know 100% never touched lead. So my question is how the hell do I test this? Everyone keeps recommending the same sodium rhodizonate lead test swabs just with different brand names.

Tldr: After stripping a griddle and finding a shiny spot, I tested it for lead and it came back positive, leading to concerns about the reaction between iron and sodium rhodizonate. The question is how to accurately test for lead contamination in the griddle without potential false positives from the test method recommended by others?

Edit: wanted to add some more info. I did experiment with the test themselves to see how reliable they were and they passed it so I don't suspect its the test themselves but the chemical reaction between iron and the sodium rhodizonate

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Usually the worry in old cast iron about lead is because someone might have used it to melt lead for casting bullets or fishing weights.