In October 2024, a study published in Chemosphere found brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in 85 percent of black plastic consumer products tested in the US, including kitchen utensils, food service trays, and toys. The most frequently detected compound was decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE), a substance the EPA banned from new manufacture in 2021. The research generated significant public attention and no small amount of alarm. Two subsequent corrections substantially revised the study's exposure estimates. The contamination finding has not changed.
The source
The paper, titled "From e-waste to living space: Flame retardants contaminating household items add to concern about plastic recycling," was authored by Megan Liu and Erika Schreder of Toxic-Free Future and Sicco H. Brandsma of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. It was published in Chemosphere (Volume 365, Article 143319; DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143319), with online publication on September 11, 2024.
What the study found
The researchers screened 203 black plastic consumer products purchased in the US using X-ray fluorescence, which detects bromine as a proxy for brominated flame retardants. Twenty products had bromine concentrations above 50 parts per million. Of those 20, nine were kitchen utensils and two were food service items.
The three most frequently detected BFRs were decaBDE (BDE-209), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), and 2,4,6-tribromophenol. Concentrations in some products reached 22,800 mg/kg. BDE-209 alone was found at 5 to 1,200 times the European Union's regulatory ceiling of 10 ppm for this compound in consumer articles. The US has no equivalent limit.
The corrections
The original paper estimated a median daily BFR exposure from kitchen utensil use and compared it against an EPA reference dose listed as 42,000 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day. The correct figure is 420,000 ng/kg/day. A December 2024 corrigendum acknowledged this transcription error and revised the comparison. After the correction, the estimated exposure represented approximately 8 percent of the reference dose rather than the 83 percent the original framing implied.
A second corrigendum, published July 2025, revised the exposure estimate itself. The corrected figure dropped to approximately 7,900 ng/day. For the highest-contamination spatula in the sample, the corrected figures place estimated exposure below 0.4 percent of the EPA reference dose. The lead author described the exposure comparison as secondary to the paper's core purpose. The detection data covering the 203 products, the 85 percent positive rate and the concentration measurements, has not been revised in either correction.
Where it lives in your kitchen
Black plastic is the near-universal color for consumer products made from recycled electronics. Carbon black pigment masks the discoloration of mixed-origin recycled resins; the result is that black is the default for anything manufactured from e-waste. Electronics housings from televisions, computers, and printers are made from styrene-based plastics loaded with BFRs including decaBDE. Electrical equipment must meet fire-resistance standards, and bromine-based compounds have been the most cost-effective way to achieve them. When these devices are discarded and mechanically recycled, the flame retardants remain chemically embedded in the plastic matrix. Standard mechanical recycling cannot separate them. The resulting resin is sold to manufacturers for use in kitchen utensils, food trays, and similar consumer goods, with no requirement to disclose the e-waste origin.
The EPA's January 2021 rule under TSCA Section 6(h) prohibits new manufacture, import, and distribution of decaBDE and most decaBDE-containing products. The rule contains an explicit exemption: plastic that already contained decaBDE before recycling is not subject to the ban when reprocessed into new materials, provided no fresh decaBDE is added. This is the regulatory gap the study documents. The ban addresses new intentional use. It does not address legacy flame retardants cycling through mechanical recycling and into food-contact kitchenware.
What to use instead
Stainless steel utensils are the straightforward alternative: an inert material, no surface treatments to question, and not manufactured from recycled electronics streams. Solid wood works well for utensils that avoid prolonged high-heat oil contact.
For silicone utensils, look for LFGB certification specifically. LFGB is Germany's Food Commodity and Consumer Goods Act; it requires migration testing at temperatures up to 100 degrees Celsius. A certified item has been confirmed to produce measurable chemical migration below detection limits at cooking temperatures. FDA-compliant silicone only requires that the formulation is approved for food contact; it does not require migration testing under heat. The LFGB distinction is what separates verified food-safe silicone from the broader category.
If you're replacing utensils now, the non-toxic cooking utensils guide runs these categories against the criteria that filter out the flame-retardant pathway.
