Do not buy rigid, glossy, dishwasher-safe products described as bamboo fibre, eco bamboo or bamboo composite for food or drink. Choose solid bamboo, wood, steel, glass or ceramic instead.
EU member states withdrew bamboo-melamine food-contact ware from February 2021 after formaldehyde migration was found at up to 30 times the tolerable daily intake for adults and 120 times for small children; the UK's Chartered Institute of Environmental Health found it still on sale in 2023, and a 2025 study found bamboo dishes leaching pesticides and melamine.
The catch: this is a health swap more than a plastic-mass one; the plastic avoided is a few hundred grams of melamine, but the exposure risk for children is the reason to act.