Hong Kong watchdog finds over half of cast iron cooking pots release metals exceeding global safety standards
- Centre for Food Safety says the laboratory tests do not necessarily reflect the results from cooking in normal circumstances
- Best performers were pots from popular brands Lagostina, Le Creuset and Staub, while products from Lodge and Bruno fared the worst
More than half of cast iron cooking pots recently tested by Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog were found to have released various metals exceeding global safety standards, with one possibly containing carcinogenic substances.
The Consumer Council on Monday revealed that four of seven models of cast iron pots tested released metals such as cobalt, lithium, aluminium, arsenic, cadmium, iron, chromium, manganese or vanadium that exceeded global standards.
The limits are set by bodies such as the Council of Europe, a human rights group, as well as France’s General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control.
The seven models were from France’s Le Creuset and Staub, Lagostina and Bruno of China, Vermicular and Sori Yanagi of Japan, and Lodge of the United States. They cost from HK$798 (US$102) to HK$3,199.
The best performers were Lagostina, Le Creuset and Staub, while Lodge and Bruno fared the worst.
