Stainless steel vs plastic, bamboo, enamel, silicone - the complete materials guide for kids tableware (2026)

1. Bisphenols and the "BPA-free" deception

The EU Commission adopted Regulation 2024/3190 on 19 December 2024, banning BPA in virtually all food-contact materials. In force from January 2025; the stockpile transition expires 20 July 2026. The reason: EFSA in April 2023 lowered the tolerable daily intake for BPA from 4 µg/kg body weight to 0.2 ng/kg, a 20,000-fold reduction, due to evidence of effects on the immune system, specifically on T-helper 17 cells, which are key to inflammatory and autoimmune processes. EFSA wrote explicitly in the same document: all population age groups are expected to exceed the new TDI through diet. That is why the EU went for an outright ban rather than a lower migration limit.

"BPA-free" does not mean "bisphenol-free". Industry typically replaced BPA with bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF). A systematic review of 32 studies published in Environmental Health Perspectives(2015, Rochester & Bolden) documented that BPS and BPF show hormonal activity of the same order of magnitude as BPA: estrogenic, anti-estrogenic, androgenic and anti-androgenic. Subsequent modelling (2018, same journal) showed that BPAF, another substitute, has 7 to 13 times the estrogenic potency of BPA itself. "BPA-free" is a marketing label, not a health guarantee.

Stainless steel is not a bisphenol-based material. It has no BPA and cannot have any "hidden" substitutes.

2. Microplastics - from the bottle to the arteries

A Trinity College Dublin team tested 10 polypropylene baby bottles representing roughly 70% of the global market. Preparing formula per WHO guidance, they measured the release of up to 16.2 million microparticles per litre plus trillions of nanoparticles. Sterilisation at 95°C and shaking with hot water dramatically increase release, from 0.6 to 55 million particles per litre. The study was published in Nature Food in 2020. Globally, projected infant exposure is between 14,600 and 4,550,000 particles per day depending on the region.

Microplastics are no longer just an environmental question. In March 2024, the New England Journal of Medicine published the first human observational study (Marfella et al.) of 257 patients undergoing carotid surgery. Microplastics and nanoplastics were detected in 58.4% of plaque samples, with 12% also containing polyvinyl chloride. Over a mean follow-up of nearly three years, patients with microplastics in their plaques had a 4.53× higher riskof non-fatal heart attack, non-fatal stroke, or death from any cause (HR 4.53; 95% CI 2.00-10.27; P<0.001). The study has limitations the authors acknowledge (potential intraoperative contamination, observational design), but the signal is strong enough that major cardiology journals (European Heart Journal, JACC: Advances) flagged the findings as a potential new risk factor.

Babies are disproportionately exposed. A small pilot study (Science of the Total Environment 2021) found infants had up to 10× more PET particles in stool than adults. The reason: per kilogram of body weight, babies eat and drink more than adults, and their detoxification systems are less developed.

Inox is a metal; it does not fragment. The surface is smooth, chemically inert, and does not degrade over time the way plastic does.

3. Bamboo tableware - why it is bad

First, what "bamboo tableware" actually is. It is almost never pure bamboo. Melamine is an organic compound that reacts with formaldehyde to form melamine resin, a thermoset plastic. That resin is the main material of "bamboo" tableware; bamboo fibres or other plant matter are FILLER, added to the resin as a bulking agent. A study by Bechynska et al. at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague (Food Control, February 2025) tested 21 products labelled "bamboo": 20 of 21 contained melamine or its derivatives.

In other words, "bamboo" is a marketing story around a product chemically nearest to ordinary melamine plastic, sometimes with more formaldehyde.

When heated (dishwasher, microwave, hot meals, acidic food like tomato, fruit, vinegar), some of the formaldehyde in the resin migrates into food. Formaldehyde is classified as a human carcinogen (IARC, Group 1). The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), in its 2019 evaluation (updated 2020), reviewed 366 cups and bowls for formaldehyde release and 291 articles for melamine. Bamboo-melamine products release on average up to 30% more formaldehyde than ordinary melamine. In some cases, calculated values exceed the TDI up to 30× in adults and 120× in children. BfR asked the EU to lower the specific migration limit for formaldehyde from 15 to 6 mg/kg.

Bamboo and other plant fibres are not authorised as additives in plastic food-contact materials under EU Regulation 10/2011. Several EU member states have already withdrawn bamboo-melamine products from their markets: Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Spain. This is not a local initiative; it is a coordinated action by member states because bamboo-melamine is formally not a legally authorised category.

4. Phthalates - what plastic hides besides bisphenols

Phthalates are a group of plasticisers (softeners) used in PVC and some other plastics. The European Commission officially classified four key ones (DBP, BBP, DEHP, DIBP) as endocrine disruptors in November 2021, on top of the prior classification as Category 1B reproductive toxicants. EFSA in 2019 set group tolerable daily intakes, but explicitly on a provisional basis due to data limitations.

A 2024 study in Environmental Science & Technology found that plastic packaging from five countries contains endocrine and metabolic disruptors at levels capable of affecting experimental cell models.

Inox, as a single-material product, contains no plasticisers. There is nothing to soften.

5. Silicone - why it is wrong for plates and bowls

Silicone is a level above plastic. No BPA, BPS, BPF, phthalates, formaldehyde. Thermostable up to about 230°C, it does not fragment into classic microplastics, and the FDA and EFSA recognise it as food-grade. Silicone is far safer than plastic. But it is not as inert as inox, and for a plate or bowl a child eats from every day, there are three things to know.

First: cyclic siloxanes (D4, D5, D6). During silicone elastomer manufacturing, some starting materials remain in the final product as unreacted cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes. They can migrate into food, especially at higher temperatures, into fatty foods (siloxanes are lipophilic, more soluble in oil than water), and out of new products during the first few uses. D4, D5 and D6 are on the ECHA list of Substances of Very High Concern due to endocrine disruption, persistence and bioaccumulation. EFSA in a 2022 report explicitly acknowledged: a comprehensive risk assessment of cVMS migration from food-contact materials currently does not exist.

Second: odour and oil absorption. Silicone is porous at the molecular level. Heat opens the pores; they take in oils and odour molecules, which then "lock in" on cooling. In practice: a silicone spoon you stirred tomato sauce with keeps the smell and taste even after washing. If meals rotate (vegetables, fruit, meat purees, sweet dishes), this becomes a real problem: the taste of one meal is held in the silicone and carried into the next.

Third: quality varies dramatically. There are two ways silicone polymers are made: peroxide curing (cheap, more impurities) and platinum-cured (more expensive, cleaner, denser, less siloxane migration). Low-quality silicone often has fillers (silicon dioxide, talc) that increase porosity. A quick at-home test: twist it. If white lines appear, it has filler. Pure food-grade silicone retains its colour when twisted.

Our approach: silicone on the outside, inox on the inside. We use silicone where its flexibility has unique value: anti-slip bases on plates and bowls, fall resistance, cool grip on a lunch-box handle. Never in direct contact with food. Food touches only inert inox; silicone does a purely mechanical job on the outside. Brands that use silicone in direct contact with food (e.g. ezpz, Mushie) are not necessarily dangerous (food-grade silicone is far better than plastic), but for us that was a less conservative choice than we wanted for our products.

6. Enamel - why it is not for children

Enamel is a glass coating (glaze) fused to metal (usually iron or steel) at high temperature. Visually pretty, retro, looks "healthy". But for children's tableware it has two serious problems.

The first is lead and cadmium in colour pigments.Red, orange and yellow pigments historically contain lead and cadmium, because those metals give bright, stable colours at the high firing temperatures used to bake enamel. Tamara Rubin (an independent researcher with XRF testing equipment) publicly documented an enamel children's cup measuring 16,200 ppm of cadmium, while the regulatory limit for children's products is 40 to 75 ppm. Vintage enamel (pre-1970s, before FDA regulation) is especially dangerous. Modern transparent brands with independent test certificates can be fine, but the default rule for children is: no. The EU regulates the migration of lead and cadmium from ceramics and similar materials (Directive 84/500/EEC), but most cheap enamel on the market is not independently tested.

The second is brittleness.Enamel is glass. When it chips - and it will chip after the first fall from table height, guaranteed - it exposes the metal beneath (often plain iron), which then rusts in contact with food and moisture. The edges of chipped enamel are sharp, dangerous for a baby's fingers. Enamel lifetime in a household with a small child is 6 to 12 months before the first serious chip.

7. Inox grades 304 and 316 - what we pick and why

The FDA (21 CFR 175.300) recognises stainless steel as GRAS (generally recognised as safe) for food contact when it contains at least 16% chromium. The EU recognises this through Council of Europe Resolution CM/Res(2013)9 on metals in food-contact materials.

Two food-grade standards are recommended:

• AISI 304 contains about 18% chromium and 8% nickel. It is the standard stainless steel for the food industry. Professional kitchens, restaurants and fermentation tanks almost always use 304.
• AISI 316 contains 16 to 18% chromium, 10 to 14% nickel, plus 2 to 3% molybdenum. Molybdenum gives higher resistance to chlorides (salt) and acidic foods. 316 is the standard choice for marine equipment, pharmaceutical industry, surgical instruments, and cutlery that frequently meets salt and acidic juices.

Under normal use (static food, room or body temperature), migration from inox is negligible. A study by Kamerud et al. in 2013 (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry) showed that during hours-long simmering of acidic tomato sauce in a stainless-steel pot, nickel concentration in the food could rise up to 50×, but only after 6 or more hours of simmer. A plate, bowl or cup serving hot food does not activate this mechanism.

So at HocuNjam:

• 304 goes into plates, bowls and cups: food is static, at room or body temperature, contact is relatively short.
• 316 goes into cutlery (spoons and forks): children bite, food is acutely more acidic (fruit, juice, yoghurt), mechanical wear is more intensive.

Watch out for imitations. Cheap imitations often use non-standard grades (201, 202, "manganese" steel) that can corrode and shed impurities into food. The grade must be clearly stated on the declaration, with a lab certificate of health compliance.

Go deeper

• BPA-free kids tableware - pillar guideWhat "BPA-free" actually means and what it does not cover.
• Baby tableware without harmful materialsWalk-through of BPA, BPS, phthalates, melamine, bamboo.
• Inox plates for kidsSuction-base, divided, classic models.
• Inox cutlery for babiesSpoons and forks for the move to solids.