Hasegawa FSR cutting boards & microplastics..

[riverrat]

After acquiring some nice Japanese knives, I took the next step and got set up with 4 different sizes of Hasegawa FSR cutting boards to replace the Epicurean boards we used previously.

Now wifey is complaining about them, saying there's study indicating plastic cutting boards are a significant source of microplastics.

The FSR boards appear to actually be surfaced with some sort of elastomer rather than "plastic" per se, e.g. polyethylene or polypropylene. Most elastomers appear to be fairly inert and they are often used in medical applications where humans are exposed to them. But I can't find anything specific regarding use of elastomers in cutting boards, and the risk this may pose (if any) through generation of microplastics during use as a cutting surface.

Wondering what the brain trust here has to say on this issue..

 

[HolyDiverScallop]

I think it's intuitively obvious that cutting on a plastic board will create microplastics. What is less clear is whether that is a meaningful increase in risk relative to all of the other sources of microplastics that end up inside us. Whether the elastomeric material Hasegawa uses is biologically/medically inert or not, I don't know.

Personally, I've gone for the harm reduction philosophy, reducing my use of plastic, particularly for food prep and food storage use. I am wooden boards for all vegetables and some meats, and a silicone type cutting mat for raw chicken, pork and beef.

What has been shown to be a huge source of microplastic is heating plastic. So storing hot food in a plastic container is a major source of bad mojo, and microwaving plastic is even more so. I still use plastic containers in the freezer, but cool the food before transferring to them for final storage.

 

[riverrat]

Agree; the question isn't whether particles are produced but rather actual health risks they pose vis a vis other sources. I'm personally curious how risk (if any) might vary with different materials and board usage patterns.

Kinda bummed that this might be an issue; I really like the Hasegawa boards and they weren't cheap.
But with a scientist in the house we do try to adjust practices based on evidence. The Chief would prefer procedures more like yours; I guess I'll bust my wood boards out of storage.

RE heating plastic- we're very careful about that. Never microwaved, no hot foods in plastic containers. Also seems intuitively obvious as a source and easy to minimize.

 

[gentiscid]

End grain cutting boards for home use. Get several of them in different sizes.

Reducing microplastics out of home kitchen is by reducing eating out or ordering delivery services food (Doordash etc).

I used to see those green or white cutting boards (polyethylene), and now I don't trust them. There is no way that microplastics are not going into food when cutting on those.

P.S: A wise man once said “Always listen to your wife, man! Always!”

 

[panda]

there's more harmful **** in the air we breathe than from a cutting board.

 

[Cliff]

How do you feel about cambros? Aren't those used for stocks all the time?

 

[Dan-]

They shouldn’t be. Cambro itself says they’re not for temperatures above 160. And then the material matters even more because polycarbonate requires plasticizers which leach into food.

 

[4fingersofelmert]

Coming from a microbiologist that works for a company that does a lot of surface chemistry with plastics, I've completely switched to using wood boards for everything. Also just trying to remove plastics from the kitchen as much as possible in general is a good idea.

 

[Jovidah]

Coming from a microbiologist that works for a company that does a lot of surface chemistry with plastics, I've completely switched to using wood boards for everything. Also just trying to remove plastics from the kitchen as much as possible in general is a good idea.

Care to elaborate? Am always interested in a longer 'why', even if half of it might go over my head.

 

[4fingersofelmert]

Care to elaborate? Am always interested in a longer 'why', even if half of it might go over my head.

Cleaning: After proper cleaning the difference in remaining surface bacterial load between plastic and hardwood boards really won't be significant. I've read a number of papers regarding bacterial absorption and cleaning with regard to wood cutting boards and this generally seems to be the takeaway. Google scholar and Sci-hub are good places to find these if you want some light reading.
Microplastics: Will always exist with any type of plastic/rubber boards. Best to avoid even if they are inert.
Reactivity: Alcohols, acids, bases, all react to some extent with plastics. Leachates from plastics are always a good thing to avoid ingesting. Don't drink alcohol from plastic bottles btw.

 

[riverrat]

there's more harmful **** in the air we breathe than from a cutting board.

That's probably true; modern life involves a huge array of vectors for exposure to a long list of different chemical contaminants that can impact human health. Air pollution is obviously a big one; microplastics from cutting boards is likely much farther down the list of vectors to triage on.

Most people won't be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes but a certain percentage of us will. Those people may well wonder "are there any actions I could have taken that would have prevented this? If I'd been more mindful about my exposure to environmental contaminants, could I have avoided the tipping point where I got cancer?" There's no definitive answer and for someone with cancer the ship has sailed. It's impossible to identify, much less eliminate all contaminants, especially low-grade, chronic exposures, and how they all interact over time. But we can reduce our overall "load" of exposure by focusing on things we can identify and control. Some things are easier to address than others; microplastics from plastic cutting boards is pretty low hanging fruit.

As already mentioned, a relevant question is how much of an actual difference in health, potential cancer risk, etc that would make. I'd like to think the difference would be pretty minimal. But most respondents to this thread seem to have decided to take action even with imperfect knowledge on the matter. I think I'm going to follow suit, especially in view of other lifestyle choices I've made and various exposures earlier in life before I (and society more generally) were as aware of the extent and diversity of risks. The knives I've picked up after discovering this forum are really friggin' sharp and its not hard to see what they're doing to my Hasegawa boards..

 

[4fingersofelmert]

That's probably true; modern life involves a huge array of vectors for exposure to a long list of different chemical contaminants that can impact human health. Air pollution is obviously a big one; microplastics from cutting boards is likely much farther down the list of vectors to triage on.

Most people won't be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes but a certain percentage of us will. Those people may well wonder "are there any actions I could have taken that would have prevented this? If I'd been more mindful about my exposure to environmental contaminants, could I have avoided the tipping point where I got cancer?" There's no definitive answer and for someone with cancer the ship has sailed. It's impossible to identify, much less eliminate all contaminants, especially low-grade, chronic exposures, and how they all interact over time. But we can reduce our overall "load" of exposure by focusing on things we can identify and control. Some things are easier to address than others; microplastics from plastic cutting boards is pretty low hanging fruit.

As already mentioned, a relevant question is how much of an actual difference in health, potential cancer risk, etc that would make. I'd like to think the difference would be pretty minimal. But most respondents to this thread seem to have decided to take action even with imperfect knowledge on the matter. I think I'm going to follow suit, especially in view of other lifestyle choices I've made and various exposures earlier in life before I (and society more generally) were as aware of the extent and diversity of risks. The knives I've picked up after discovering this forum are really friggin' sharp and its not hard to see what they're doing to my Hasegawa boards..

This is it. Well said. It just comes down to working with what you can control and weighing what matters to you. Cutting boards are pretty simple to change.

 

[Cliff]

It's true. But Hasegawa are so light, easy to clean, easy on edges. Sigh

 

[HolyDiverScallop]

there's more harmful **** in the air we breathe than from a cutting board.

This is likely to be true, but it doesn't mean that the question is without merit or that action isn't beneficial.

For me, I'm a lot more aware than I used to be of a lot of potential health hazards, and I am working to mitigate some of them. Mitigate, not eliminate.

Regarding air quality, I noticed after being away for a little while that I was pretty sneezy and phlegmy when I returned to my house. Old house, drafty in places, dusty as heck under the best of circumstances, and no forced air HVAC system, so the air doesn't really circulate, nor get filtered.

I've started making use of air cleaners/purifiers in my house to better manage all of the dust and stuff in the air, and it's made a pretty decent difference in how I feel. Crazy that it took this long for me to figure it out.

 

[cooktocut]

From my experience, hinoki wood boards are easier on my edges than any other wood or hasegawa board I’ve found.

 

[Cliff]

I should try one

 

[riverrat]

From my experience, hinoki wood boards are easier on my edges than any other wood or hasegawa board I’ve found.

That's what I'm looking at. Do you have any suggestions for brands or sources?
Also, endgrain or one piece edge grain?
thx

 

[cooktocut]

That's what I'm looking at. Do you have any suggestions for brands or sources?
Also, endgrain or one piece edge grain?
thx

I’m not sure an end grain hinoki board exists, but to be honest even if it did I wouldn’t bother. Edge grain is plenty soft, just don’t be too hard on it otherwise it will leave permanent marks. Treat it like you do your knives. Cuttingboard.com was one of the only places I found that sells the size I like, 24x18, and I have two of them.

 

[Cliff]

I have endgrain, Boardsmith. It's beautiful, but it's very heavy, and I worry about it with all the barbarians. Nothing oil and sandpaper can't fix, but still

 

[cooktocut]

My OwlWoodworks end grain board is what my hinoki board sits on top of for more elevation. Not only is it a beauty that I don’t want to put too much wear and tear on, but the hinoki is just so much more forgiving. So Luke’s is for special occasions

 

[Jovidah]

@riverrat Look on the bright side; the wife is basically telling you to go buy new toys.

 

[sumis]

so next question: synthetic rubber and wood pulp, i.e. asahi boards …

.

 

[dabes]

I switched to a TPU mat recently for meat, it doesn't flake like hdpe, it's cut resistant, and biodegradable.

 

[hanson279]

As a former cancer biology researcher, my recommendation is to just not worry about it if it does not bother you. To put simply, almost anything can be harmful in large amounts. If you realized the amount of potentially carcinogenic material you were exposed to daily, you would probably die earlier from stress than cancer. What is important is harm reduction rather than avoiding risk altogether.

Do you not grill your food with wood or coal? Do you use mulch? Why worry about your cutting board if you are a chronic smoker. Why think about microplastics if you are a carpenter? Chronic exposure and ingestion of sawdust and treated woods is a well known cause of nasal and lung cancer. Some wood species are just outright toxic for humans and those compounds will certainly leech into your food if used as a cutting board. Some commercially available mulch contains woods treated with preservatives which are extremely toxic yet some people use it to grow food.

Switching from one thing to the next is not always going to reduce risk if we are talking about cancer. Bisphenol-A or BPA has been widely talked about in terms of risks leading people to search for BPA for alternatives. Sorry to tell you but BPA free alternatives are just molecular analogues such as BPF or BPS which literally has the same potential hazards. As an aside, just use glass. If trying to avoiding cancer is a major source of stress for you, then I recommend you replace everything with glass. Yes that means a glass cutting board for you.

There are way too many things to consider and everyone has different lifestyles. If you are worried about cancer, I'd recommend you look into things that you have chronic exposure to as those are most relevant. Some examples are long exposures to sun or UV sources, eating cured meats, drinking alcohol, etc. On the bright side, personalized cancer treatments and other "cancer cures" are closer on the horizon than the chance of microplastics killing you of cancer.

 

[Dan-]

If only the exposure were a risk for cancer alone. Alas, it is not. Granted in the context of cutting boards not exposed to heat or solvents, yeah, it’s a bit not that important.

 

[Cliff]

But wait, Hasegawa says theirs can go in the dishwasher

 

[kscarguy]

what about using richlite cutting boards?
I just switches. I went to their website and bought the one that was NSF certified .
I got the 24"x24" and made 3 cutting boards out of them

 

[sanmateo]

As a former cancer biology researcher, my recommendation is to just not worry about it if it does not bother you. To put simply, almost anything can be harmful in large amounts. If you realized the amount of potentially carcinogenic material you were exposed to daily, you would probably die earlier from stress than cancer. What is important is harm reduction rather than avoiding risk altogether.

Do you not grill your food with wood or coal? Do you use mulch? Why worry about your cutting board if you are a chronic smoker. Why think about microplastics if you are a carpenter? Chronic exposure and ingestion of sawdust and treated woods is a well known cause of nasal and lung cancer. Some wood species are just outright toxic for humans and those compounds will certainly leech into your food if used as a cutting board. Some commercially available mulch contains woods treated with preservatives which are extremely toxic yet some people use it to grow food.

Switching from one thing to the next is not always going to reduce risk if we are talking about cancer. Bisphenol-A or BPA has been widely talked about in terms of risks leading people to search for BPA for alternatives. Sorry to tell you but BPA free alternatives are just molecular analogues such as BPF or BPS which literally has the same potential hazards. As an aside, just use glass. If trying to avoiding cancer is a major source of stress for you, then I recommend you replace everything with glass. Yes that means a glass cutting board for you.

There are way too many things to consider and everyone has different lifestyles. If you are worried about cancer, I'd recommend you look into things that you have chronic exposure to as those are most relevant. Some examples are long exposures to sun or UV sources, eating cured meats, drinking alcohol, etc. On the bright side, personalized cancer treatments and other "cancer cures" are closer on the horizon than the chance of microplastics killing you of cancer.

is there something in the human gut that can break down HDPE particles? I had assumed it was relatively inert, as it's used for storage bottles in labs (and milk jugs, etc). Where does bioavailability of HDPE rank relative to other common kitchen polymers, e.g. polypropylene, polycarbonate, PVC, or silicone?

how does the risk of eating cutting board particles compare to smoked and cured meat?

 

[Burghound]

From my experience, hinoki wood boards are easier on my edges than any other wood or hasegawa board I’ve found.

I too very much like my Hinoki board as it's very easy on blade edges plus it's (relatively) light weight and thus to the extent that you use your boards to transmit food to the skillet or wok, convenient; and, as an aside, they release a positively wonderful odor when they're wet (the underlying wood is cypress). The big drawback though is that because the wood is basically off white, it stains easily and at some point, they have to be sanded down to return them to pristine condition.

 

[DMG]

There's not a lot of info on the Japanese synthetic boards for overall safety or on microplastics specifically. I use Hi-Soft (PVAc) and simply don't worry too much about it though. PVAc is considered pretty inert and has been used for some medical implants before, so I figure little bits of that here and there getting into my system really isn't gonna destroy me.

I still keep at least one decent wood board because no synthetic (that I've come across at least) really likes to handle bread knives, bone cleaving, or other rougher tasks.