Making the wrong choice when it comes to plastic food storage containers or other kitchen utensils can be dangerous for your health. Plastic kitchen items -- colorful lemon squeezers, mixing bowls, cutting boards, etc. -- are practical tools that have entered almost every kitchen over the past few years, primarily due to their low cost. And while we all know through experience that plastic spoons, purchased because they don’t scratch non-stick surfaces, often wind up melting due to heat or that plastic storage containers perhaps should not be placed in the dishwasher, we almost never seem to ask just how healthy it is for us to be using all this plastic in the kitchen.Many of us do know, though, that plastics can contain carcinogens. Dr. Mehmet Akyüz, an oncologist, however, notes that it is not right to say we should never use plastic. The important thing is using high-quality plastic products and items that have been tested and to make sure that we are using these plastics in the right way. For example, it is risky to place very hot foods in plastic storage containers because the high heat can cause some of the dangerous elements in plastic to transfer into the food.
Dr. Hülya Çaşkurlu, an infectious diseases specialist at Sema Hospital, notes that we need to pay special attention to the plastic cutting boards we use for chopping meat, vegetables, bread and so on. She points to the scrapes and scratches that develop on the surfaces of these plastics as being the perfect places for germs to multiply.
Dr. Çaşkurlu says: “As plastics get worn, it becomes easier for germs to multiply on their surfaces. Make sure, for example, that plastic food storage containers are not wet before you use them. A wet plastic surface is ideal for germs. Try using more wood in the kitchen. Of course, wooden cutting boards and such need to be washed thoroughly with soap. Plastics can be washed in the dishwasher, but if the heat gets extremely high in your dishwasher, you need to be careful because this could allow some of the dangerous elements in the plastics themselves to escape. Try to pick kitchen containers made from more natural elements. Steel containers, for example, are a great idea -- or glass. And try replacing your plastic spoons with wooden spoons.”
Plastic can cause disease
Dr. Akyüz says: “When plastic is heated up enough, some of the carcinogen in it are released. There is a compound released from plastic that we refer to as ‘BPA.’ It is known to be linked to breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. This compound can mimic estrogen in the body, and if children are exposed to too much of it at an early age, they enter puberty earlier. BPA can also trigger obesity and osteoporosis.”
Children are the most susceptible to the danger posed by harmful compounds in plastic, as their resistance to diseases in general is lower than that of adults. Dr. Öner Özdemir, a specialist in pediatric allergies, notes the extreme importance of choosing quality plastics.
Özdemir notes that plastics are marked with the numbers one through seven based on what they are made of and advises consumers to check the number printed on a product before purchasing it. Stay away from plastics numbered three and six as these are dangerous groups and avoid products marked seven as it denotes “other” and there is no guarantee what they are made of. And if there is no number imprinted on the underside of a plastic item -- as is often the case in Turkey with plastic items sold out in the open -- you should not use it. This is why, if you must purchase plastic containers, you should buy them from stores known to sell high-quality products. If you wipe a plastic container with a wet napkin and its color bleeds onto the napkin, you know immediately that you are dealing with low-quality plastic. Also, a bad odor coming from the plastic can be a tip.
Can you place plastic items in the dishwasher?
Whether you can place your plastic items in the dishwasher is a question whose answer is dictated entirely by the type of the plastic at hand. Orhan Hülagü, a design engineer at Vestel, notes: “Serious producers of plastic containers mark on their products whether or not they are dishwasher safe. But if a plastic container is produced by a low-quality source, it’s fairly clear anyway. As low-quality plastics get washed, they turn almost grainy on top. And this can, in time, pose a threat to the safety of your food. So, plastics can be washed in dishwashers, but these plastics must be strong enough to withstand high levels of heat.”
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