Sylvia See on mon 13 apr 98
Hi all; Interesting post of government inspection. I live in Canada and a
few years ago I had a person from Dept. of Health contact me over a few
pieces of Raku I had on display in the window of a local shop. They had me
take the pieces out of the store because they could be used to hold food. I
contacted the department of Health for guidelines on Raku and was informed
I had to mark each piece of Raku with my name, address and not food safe in
both English and French. This had to be readible and marked in such a way
that it was permanent. That is alot of information to put on the bottom of
a small vase but they were particularly concerned with vases that the
general public could use for juice or drinks. They had a case in Quebec of
a woman who used a vase for her son's orange juice because it fit so well
in the fridge and she killed her son. They said the pottery had come from
Mexico and contained lead but they were now checking all pottery for
food-safe including Raku and primitive. I started rendering all my Raku
ware unfunctional by putting a design near the bottom with 2 holes in the
design.
I stopped doing that last year as I was sure I was the only one in the
country doing so, and well-known potters in our area are making Raku bowls
etc, that the public have every right to assume are food-safe, and they not
only disbelieve my story, but continue to make obvious food containers in
Raku. However, after reading this post, I will return to my design. I
questioned the fact that they they only questioned me, and I am the only
one in the area with a business license. they said they were going to start
checking craft fairs, garage sales, flea markets, etc. But I see no
evidence of that ever happening and it has been well over 5 years since
they approached me. I did however receive information from the government
regarding the new legislation concerning lead and cadmium. On a personal
note, I agree that they should be inspecting some of the Raku ware out
there as well as the lead and cadmium. We are responsible for the health
safety of our products, and I disagree with the well-known potters out
there who are selling bowls etc with wonderful Raku glazes and patterns on
them, who think saying well who would want to eat of a lovely bowel like
this anyway, cuts the mustard. I paid alot of money for a very nice large
bowel with chattered rim and multi-colored sand glaze inside bottom of
bowel and leaf decoration on unglazed smoked rim. I know better than to eat
out this bowel, but can we really expect the general public to know that.
In fact, we have a famous lady in our small community who is an
internationally known chef and on one of her TV programs she served one of
the dishes she made in a beautiful rakued bowel, not knowing any better.
She even has the picture of the food in this Rakued bowel in her cookbook.
I have done enough Raku to know, I sure as heck wouldn't eat out it, and am
amazed the potters who make themselves Rakued dinner sets. If they don't
care about their own family, they sure don't care about the general public,
and yes I am aware that we can possibly get a good foodsafe glaze on Raku,
but I sure don't see any on the pottery in this area.
It has been so long ago since I was approached, this post surprised me. I
thought maybe the gov't had stopped worring about the safety of our
products. I do however, still hold that if they are going to do an
inspection, okay, then hit the places where alot of the pottery is sold.
Fairs, etc. There are a ton of unlicensed potters out there selling in
fairs, flea markets, garage sales, and rented stalls in craft stores. They
should be checked as well as the licensed potters.
Sylvia See Claresholm, Alberta sylviac@telusplanet.net
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