I just want to get the word out that when considering your next purchase of dishes to eat off of... Please read ALL labeling on the boxed sets!
Some of the handpainted dishes being shipped into this country, many from 3rd world countries, are not made under the same strict and rigid guidelines our government here has set up for production. You will find on some of these boxes a warning. What does this warning tell you? It tells you that the paint used to decorate certain dishes may contain lead.
Now some may think this is nothing to get concerned about, but think about it, why is it necessary to put a warning label on the box? I, personally, would think twice about buying dishes on which I place the food that goes into my body if it contained lead.
Many of these are labelled as being dishwasher and microwave safe. Are they really microwave safe? I would not want to take a chance on lead leaching into my food, and I would shudder to think of the hazards this might pose to children.
It is a fact that a recall has already been made by Wal-Mart on certain mugs out of one set of these dishes due to excessive lead in the paint. The amount of lead exceeds government allowed standards. They only took back the mugs and left the plates and bowls out of the sets along with the individually sold mugs.
My question is, why is this being allowed on the shelves in the first place? It has taken how many years to remove lead from homes and now Wal-Mart and possibly other retailers that import dishes and who knows what else are being allowed to reintroduce lead into the homes.
And don't let the pretty displays of individual place settings fool you. While the boxes may have the labeling, the individual pieces sold separately have no labeling concerning the lead. So if you see a piece you like, my recommendation is to see if there is a boxed set of the same piece and check the labeling.
This was just recently discovered and with the new line-up being set in the Wal-Mart stores, you will be seeing more of these type dishes.
And as a side bar, you would question whether you wanted to eat off of these dishes if you had to unbox all the individual dishes. The smells of feces type odors and sometimes what is taken for urine smells from the cardboard between each individual dish is enough to make you gag!
It really brings into question what the employees are handling many times when they are dealing with imported merchandise. What are they making the cardboard and paper out of? Do I really want to know? Probably not!
Buyer beware!
You may contact Wal-Mart via e-mail. Just go to www.walmart.com and go to the bottom of the home page. Click on Company Information. Once there, click on 'Contact Stores and Home Office Customer Service'. On this page will be a place under the heading of e-mail that says click here. This will bring you to a page you may write your comments and/or questions.
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