Some black plastic is made from recycled plastic that once housed televisions, computers and other electronics. Those cases were treated with flame retardants, chemicals added to stop them catching fire. Some are linked to cancer, hormone disruption and harm to children's development. When the plastic is recycled into new products, the chemicals come along.
Researchers from Toxic-Free Future, a US campaign group, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam tested 203 black plastic products sold in the US, more than half of them kitchenware. They picked the 20 with the most bromine, a sign of flame retardants, for full testing, and found flame retardants in 17 of the 20. These included decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE), which the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned in 2021, at up to 1,200 times the European Union limit. The contaminated items included kitchen utensils and a sushi tray.
The paper has had two corrections. News stories said cooking with a contaminated utensil could expose people to almost the US safe daily limit for decaBDE. After a maths correction in December 2024 and a second correction in July 2025, the estimate is about 2% of that limit. The authors say their main point stands: toxic flame retardants should not be in kitchenware or food packaging at all.
Why it matters: you cannot tell what a black plastic item is made from by looking at it. Wood, stainless steel, glass and ceramic avoid the question for anything that touches hot food.