Source: Shanghai Internet refutes rumors
Recently, "black takeaway tableware" has become the protagonist of hot searches. Some bloggers posted short videos or pictures saying that black or colored takeaway cutlery cannot be used because they are made from recycled waste plastic, and black or colored is to cover up the original color of the scrap. There are even some bloggers who call themselves "industry insiders" and introduce them in the tone of "breaking the news" and "exposing the black".
Is this true?
An investigation by the Shanghai Rumor Refutation Platform found that the online rumor method is not accurate, exaggerated and misleading.
Spot checks have been carried out year after year, and the overall pass rate is high
The reporter randomly collected different brands of takeaway tableware and lunch boxes and found that black, white and transparent tableware (including dinner spoons) were the most common. Among them, most of the disposable tableware provided by brand catering are marked with information such as the actual manufacturer.
So, is there a difference in the quality of cutlery with different colors?
According to the public information of the State Administration for Market Regulation and local market supervision departments, the regulatory authorities will conduct spot checks on disposable tableware every year, including disposable lunch boxes, paper cups, bamboo and wooden chopsticks, etc. The sampling indicators include total migration and heavy metals, potassium permanganate consumption, decolorization test, load-bearing performance, identification label, etc. The first three indicators are mainly related to food safety, mainly referring to whether disposable tableware will precipitate harmful substances to the human body under specific conditions, load-bearing performance involves whether the product will be deformed when holding food or beverages, etc., and the identification label is related to the "identity" of the enterprise.
It is worth noting that the above supervision and random inspection is not only carried out every year, but also pays special attention to the supervision and random inspection of the main industrial belt of disposable tableware; In other words, disposable tableware of all colors are under high-pressure supervision.
The results of the spot check show that the pass rate of disposable tableware products is generally high, and the average can reach 99%. Taking the results of the spot check announced by the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation in July last year as an example, a total of 40 batches of plastic disposable tableware products produced and sold in the city were randomly inspected, including 10 batches in the production field, 19 batches of physical sales, and 11 batches of e-commerce sales, and no unqualified products were found.
Looking at the unqualified products disclosed by the regulatory authorities, it will be found that the problems are mainly concentrated in the load-bearing performance and the logo identification do not meet the specifications, and only a few products have unqualified items such as total migration and heavy metals, potassium permanganate consumption, and decolorization tests related to food safety.
To sum up, it can be seen that on a national scale, the pass rate of disposable tableware is relatively high, and from the official report, there is no situation where the pass rate of black or colored tableware is low. In other words, the "black cutlery can't be used" in the online video or post is not accurate.
What emits black smoke after burning is poisonous tableware?
In addition to claiming that "tableware produced from waste cannot be used", there are also accounts that say that if you want to judge whether disposable tableware is produced as waste, you can "use fire to ignite the relevant tableware, if it emits black smoke, it means that it is waste production and toxic". The above statement has been questioned by professionals.
Cao Wangbei, a materials engineer, pointed out that with the continuous development of plastic recycling technology and the improvement of evaluation and testing methods, recycled plastics represented by PET can be used as food contact materials in the United States, the European Union, Japan and other countries or regions under the premise of obtaining legal recognition and meeting regulatory requirements. However, the current laws of the mainland and most countries do not clearly stipulate whether recycled plastics can be used in the recycling production of food contact products. Therefore, in 2022, the China Institute of Agricultural and Food Standardization wrote the article "Regulatory Strategies for the Primary Reuse of Foreign Food PET Bottles and Enlightenment to the Mainland", suggesting that China should refer to the regulations, standard documents and test methods of Europe, America and Japan to establish a risk assessment system for recycled PET in the mainland, and gradually formulate national food safety standards for domestic recycled PET materials.
But specifically as far as plastic tableware is concerned, it does not mean that black is unsafe, non-black is safe, and "whether it is black" is not the basis for "whether it is waste production". The evaluation department of Phoenix.com spent 7 months on more than 1,100 spoons of 6 kinds of tableware bags for all-round testing, and found that although these spoons are of different colors, the relevant indicators are within the national standard limit, and the overall safety is clear;
As for "black smoke from tableware produced from scrap after burning", it is completely misleading. For example, the final products of complete combustion are water and carbon dioxide, but when incompletely burned, carbon black is generated, forming "black smoke". It can be seen that the formation of "black smoke" after combustion is not the basis for judging whether tableware is toxic and harmful.
During the investigation, the Shanghai rumor refutation platform found that a considerable part of the accounts that published "black takeaway tableware cannot be used well" were engaged in the production of plastic packaging materials, and the relevant statements began to spread several years ago, and the release routine was very similar to the recent one: first threw out the conclusion that "black tableware cannot be used" and "black tableware comes from waste", and then used "industry insiders" and "conscience revelations" to emphasize the reliability of what they said, and finally introduced their own products.
All of the above shows that "black disposable tableware cannot be used" is likely to be concocted by relevant accounts in order to attract attention and bring goods.
Reminder: There may be risks associated with the use of qualified products in this way
It is worth mentioning that although the overall pass rate of disposable tableware is high, the wrong way to use it may bring risks.
The consumption guidelines issued by the regulatory authorities pointed out that there are many materials for plastic disposable tableware, including polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), etc. When consumers purchase and use plastic disposable tableware, in addition to paying attention to factors such as the brand, price, and appearance of the product, they should also pay attention to the use temperature, precautions for use (such as whether it can be microwaved) and other instructions.
On the one hand, it is not recommended to reuse plastic disposable tableware, and do not leave food in plastic disposable tableware for a long time. Prolonged or multiple contact with food on plastic disposable tableware may cause deformation and breakage of tableware or migration of risk substances in plastic into food.
On the other hand, the product should be used reasonably in accordance with the information such as the use temperature and precautions of use marked by the product during use. Exceeding the conditions of use may create a high food safety risk.
Specifically, polystyrene (PS) tableware and paper tableware cannot be used for food that is too hot. When using a plastic lunch box to heat meals, it is recommended to remove the lid of the lunch box. Some lunch boxes are made of polypropylene (PP), but the lid is made of polystyrene (PS), which has the advantage of being transparent and hard and can reduce costs, but polystyrene (PS) cannot withstand high temperatures, so remove the lid when using plastic lunch boxes for heating.
Of course, in order to reduce environmental pollution, the public is advised to minimize the use of disposable tableware.