London South West, UK - Linda Crane, technical director of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), advised that old nickel cookware should not be sold by dealers for use in the kitchens of customers.
Several French solid nickel or internal nickel-plated saucepans were sold by a dealer at Salvo Fair 2011 to a customer from Oxford who, on returning home was told they were unsafe to use because they could contaminate his family. He had a baby and a small child. He subsequently returned the pans and was given a refund by the dealer who said he thought that they were legal to use in France but who offered the refund anyway.
Salvo contacted several agencies about whether selling internally plated or solid nickel cooking pans was legal, of which only Linda Crane of the BRC replied, stating:
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The regulations about materials in contact with food (such as cookware) are quite complex. There is an overall general law (regulation 1935/2004) that says such products should not release anything into food that has a harmful or deleterious effect and a number of rules about specific materials.
Although there is no actual specific ban on nickel products - there is an overall limit about how much material can be transferred into food from the cookware of 0.1mg/kg. When acid foods such as fruit are cooked in metal pans, a very small amount of the surface is dissolved into the food and this could exceed the allowed amount.
There are also some technical guidelines from the Council of Europe (dated Feb 2002) which recommend that nickel is not used for food contact items.
Overall then - I think it would be advisable not to sell nickel cookware items. The same would apply to items with interior nickel plating, although external plating would be OK as this is not in contact with the food.
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The UK government 'Guidance on the safety of products containing Nickel' cites the EU REACH directive which governs the use of chemicals which is only conerned with nickel which comes into contact with skin, to which some people and animals are allergic, particularly nickel or nickel-plated earrings, piercings, jewellery, watches, clothes rivets and zips. The law states that all products which come into direct and prolonged contact with the skin must have a rate of nickel release less than or equal to 0-5 micrograms per square centimetre, per week. 'Direct and prolonged contact' means actually touching the skin under normal use for continuous periods of time. The guidance does not mention ingestion via cookware.
Stainless steel saucepans contain chromium and nickel. A medical paper by Laboratoire Pharmaceutique de Biochimie, Pharmacotoxicologie et Analyse des Traces, Hôpital Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France, about nickel ingestion stated:
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Nickel ingestion can cause exacerbation of dermatitis in patients who are already nickel-sensitive; Chromium (Cr VI) is the 2nd allergen, after nickel. However, stainless steel is widely used in home cookware. In this study, we determined nickel and chromium levels by atomic absorption spectrometry in 11 habitual menus cooked in different grades of stainless steel utensils. We noted a great difference in nickel and chromium intake depending on the menu, and a significant difference between the glass and stainless steel saucepans, but this was very low compared with the levels of nickel and chromium contained in the menus; mean intakes of these elements were under the tolerable daily intake (TDI) recommended by the World Health Organization. Hence, there is no advantage for nickel-sensitive patients in switching to materials other than stainless steel, provided that this is of good quality.'
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In other words, the food itself contained much more nickel than was leached from the saucepans.
The Nickel Institute stated that stainless steel pans should always be heated with boiling water, the water discarded, and then the pans thoroughly washed before first use for cooking. Nickel-plated food contact materials should not be used. Nickel-containing food contact materials with the exception of stainless steel should be labelled.
Here was the Nickel Institute's advice (June 2009):
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Nickel and Stainless Steel Cookware
Nickel Stewardship
Nickel is commonly used in as an alloying element in stainless steel cookware. The nickel increases the durability of cookware so that pots, pans and utensils can be cleaned thoroughly, over and over again, with minimal tarnishing or corroding over time. The most typical grade of stainless steel in food contact applications is AISI 304, commonly referred to as 18/8. The first number refers to the amount of chromium that is contained in the stainless (18% chromium), and the second number is the amount of nickel (8% nickel).
Nickel-containing stainless steel cookware has a long history of safe and hygienic use in food contact applications. There is one possible concern however: a very small subgroup of nickel-sensitised people might experience flare-ups of nickel dermatitis after ingesting sufficient volumes of nickel in food and water. This advisory note seeks to advise manufacturers of cookware and consumers on how to minimise the risk of elevated nickel levels in food.
Assessing the risk.
Nickel release from consumer items that come into di- rect and prolonged contact with the skin (e.g. jewellery) is the central issue in nickel allergy. There is no evidence that nickel in the diet will make anyone allergic to nickel. However, for those already allergic to nickel, there is evidence that for certain hyper-sensitive individuals high nickel levels in the diet may trigger an allergic reaction. Those hyper-sensitive to nickel and wishing to limit their exposure to nickel are often advised to reduce the amount of nickel in their diet. Nickel is present in the diet because it is found naturally in soils and water. Nickel is taken up in small amounts by all plants as an essential element for healthy growth. Some plants, however, accumulate more nickel than others. To reduce the amount of nickel in the diet, therefore, hyper-sen- sitive individuals may be told to avoid oats, nuts, cacao (chocolate), pulses (such as peas, beans and lentils) and other foods.
Advice sometimes goes beyond the foods consumed to consider the pots, pans and utensils used to prepare the food. The concern is that the nickel present in the diet is being increased by nickel that "migrates" from stainless steel pots and pans during cooking.
A number of studies on this subject have studied the ef- fects of how cooking aggressive foods (tomatoes, apricots, rhubarb: fruits known for their acidity) contributes to the amount of nickel added to the cooked final products. Some increase was noted, particularly from new pots and pans, but the amount released decreased quickly after the first 3 or 4 uses.
In one typical study, new stainless steel pots showed an average pickup of 0.2 micrograms nickel per kilo- gram of food cooked. After five cooking and cleaning operations, the stainless steel pots showed an average pickup of 0.03 micrograms nickel per kilogram of food cooked. These are relatively small contributions to the average range of dietary intake of 100 - 600 micro- grams nickel per day.
Nickel-containing stainless steels in cooking vessels and utensils are therefore not significant in the con- sideration of the overall exposure of any individual to nickel either by dermal (skin contact) or oral (ingestion) routes of exposure.
Recommendations For designers and manufacturers:
Be aware that the Council of Europe has developed rec- ommendations for the use of metals and alloys intended to come into contact with food1. These recommenda- tions include the following for nickel:
+ The migration of nickel to foodstuffs should be as low as reasonably achievable and no more than: 0.1 mg/kg as a general limit of migration into foodstuffs. In the case of stainless steel, these values can safely be reached if, before initial cooking (first use of new items), the food contact items are exposed to boiling water and the water is discarded.
+ Nickel-plated food contact materials should not be used.
+ Nickel-containing food contact materials with the exception of stainless steel should be labeled to ensure that the product meet the above recommendations.
Recommendations for consumers:
When purchasing new cookware, thoroughly wash with water and detergent before use. For new pots and pans, boil water in cooking vessel and discard the water prior to first use.
If you are concerned about the amount of nickel in your diet, be aware that there are two consumer products that could also be considered: kettles with nickel- plated immersion heating elements and chromium-nickel plated taps and faucets. For more information about these specific cases, please refer to the corresponding Advisory Notes entitled Nickel and Kettles, and Nickel and Water Faucets.
Nickel Institute policy and practice
As part of the Nickel Stewardship programme, the Nickel Institute communicates with manufacturers and industry bodies to discourage the use of nickel-plated components that come into contact with food stuffs. More generally, the Nickel Institute works with regula- tory bodies on the safe and appropriate use of nickel and nickel-containing materials in all aspects of food and beverage production.
The Nickel Institute will work with any individual, industry sector, dermatological association or government agency to increase knowledge, improve practices or educate consumers. The Nickel Institute supports the use of regulation similar to that that exists in the European Union to reduce direct and prolonged skin contact with high nickel release materials in consumer goods.
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On many websites collectors of copper or cast iron nickel-plated saucepans state that nickel plating can be removed by reverse electro-plating.
One website (since deleted) recommended that acidic fruits in particular should not be cooked in solid nickel or nickel-plated cookware.
To sum up, we could not find any law prohibiting the sale of solid nickel or nickel-plated cookware, and it would seem that the food itself is of far greater nickel risk than the material. However, some people are nickel sensitive.
Salvo's advice to dealers is to label nickel plated or solid nickel cookware for sale in their showrooms thus: 'Made from solid nickel' or 'Plated internally with nickel' and 'Do not use for cooking'.
British Retail Consortium
Nickel Institute
Story Type: Trade Tips
ID: 60994
