16 products checked · sourced to the maker’s own documents
We read the material declarations, the lab certificates and the fine print on everything your food touches — then tell you what each brand will actually put in writing.
The score out of 10 is a disclosure score, not a safety rating. It measures one thing: how much the manufacturer is willing to tell you, and whether their “free of” claim matches what they can actually back up. Here is the rubric.
18/8 (304) stainless tray · 18/0 (430) stainless lid · LFGB silicone · synthetic rubber magnets
Names both steel grades — including the less flattering one. The lid is 18/0, not 18/8, and they say so and explain why: the 400 series holds magnets better.
100% ceramic throughout · no coating, no metal
The only brand here publishing dated, named lab certificates — SGS, against California Prop 65 lead and cadmium leaching and LFGB, going back years.
Tempered soda-lime silicate glass · published as 70 SiO2 CaO, 15 Na2O · lid resin and gasket not stated
The only company here that publishes an actual oxide composition for its glass. Not a marketing word — a formula.
18/8 stainless, 90% recycled, single wall · removable soft silicone spout
Single wall, so there is no vacuum seal at the base and therefore no sealing dot — which is the one place lead actually turns up in steel bottles.
We are not currently in any affiliate programme, so nothing on this page is a paid link. When that changes, the disclosure page says so first.
Most of what gets sold as a non-toxic kitchen is not worth the money. This is the short list, ranked by how much contact the item actually has with hot food.
It touches hot food more than anything else you own. If you change one thing, change this — and you do not have to spend $125 to do it.
Heat plus plastic is the combination that actually has evidence behind it. Glass removes the question, and a set costs about $14.
Four hours in a warm bag, five days a week, for years. Stainless takes the whole question off the table.
The lead question in steel bottles is about a sealing dot at the base of vacuum-insulated ones. A single-wall bottle does not have one.
The cheapest swap on the list and the one that pays for itself fastest. We have not scored these yet — it is next.
No lab, no kitchen trials, no “we used it for a month”. We read declarations, published lab certificates, statutes and peer-reviewed papers — and we link every one so you can check us.
Our Place will not tell you what is in its coating. Pyrex will not tell you what its glass is. That is not a gap in our research. It is the most useful thing we learned, and we score it.
PlanetBox says the Rover is not leak-proof. Xtrema will not publish a maximum oven temperature. Our top-scoring pan is one we have no way to earn from. That is the only reason to trust the rest of it.
New scores, brands that finally answered a question, and any rule change that affects what you are allowed to buy. Nothing else, and no “wellness” anything. The list is not open yet — email us and we will add you when it is.