Plastic Guide
Whether or not plastic is safe depends less on what type of plastic it is, but what additives were mixed in, and whether they've been tested for what leaches out. Recycling codes and labels like "BPA-free," "food grade," and “platinum-cured” tell you almost nothing, since these terms are vague, unregulated, and don’t imply any leach testing was actually done. A true migration certification like LFGB or EU 10/2011 is the clearest signal, since it tests what actually comes out of the material under real-world conditions. The clearest thing to avoid outright is any plastic carrying an active Prop 65 warning, most often flexible PVC or vinyl. This guide is one of the rating systems behind the Interior Medicine Method.
By Dr. Meg Christensen | Physician-founder of Interior Medicine, a non-toxic home resource built on her background in medicine, biochemistry, epidemiology, and clinical research.
Published June 9, 2026 | Updated August 20, 2026
What This Guide Covers
Table of Contents
Hazard Lists & Third-Party Certifications for Adhesives
Types of Plastic
FYI: How and why I use the words non-toxic, chemical-free, toxin, and toxic
Plastic Rating Scale
This scale is a summary of all the information below. Scales also keep me consistent and unbiased as I rate and rank products for their potential impact on your health. Keep reading for the full breakdown on the reasoning behind the scale, and how to make smart decisions about plastics in your home.
Plastic Rating Scale
TIER 01
Healthiest
Description
No plastic
- Glass, stainless steel, solid wood, ceramic, natural fiber, or any other non-plastic material
- The only way to remove the additive question entirely, since every additive concern below comes from something mixed into the polymer
Look for
- A full material list with no plastic component, including lids, gaskets, seals, and coatings
- "Glass," "18/8 or 18/10 stainless," "solid wood," "uncoated"
Ask the brand
- Is any part of this product plastic, including small parts like seals, valves, and liners?
In practice
- Achievable for storage, cookware, and tableware
- Harder for items that need flex or a seal, where a small plastic or silicone part is common
TIER 02
Healthy
Description
Plastic with a third-party certification
- Any plastic carrying a third-party certification that tests what migrates out of the material, regardless of polymer type
- Bio-based, silicone, or conventional polymer all sit here equally; what earns the tier is the verification, not the material
- Polymer-based, so still a potential source of microplastics, but the certification addresses the additive and migration question that the resin code cannot
Look for
- LFGB (Germany) or EU 10/2011 food-contact migration compliance
- A named migration certification, not a vague "food grade" or "non-toxic" claim
Ask the brand
- Is this certified to LFGB or EU 10/2011?
- Does the certification cover the finished product or only the raw resin?
In practice
- Common for European-made kitchen tools and better silicone bakeware and food storage
- A migration certification is most meaningful on food-contact items and says little about a non-food product
TIER 03
OK
Description
Plastic with no Prop 65 warning, or an emissions-only certification, but no migration certification
- Plastic sold without a Prop 65 warning and without a migration certification
- Also includes plastic carrying GREENGUARD GOLD, which certifies measured chemical emissions into indoor air, not what additives are in the material or what migrates into food. It's a real third-party signal, just not the one that answers the additive question
- The absence of a warning is not proof of safety. It can mean the product was tested clean, that exposure stays below the threshold that triggers labeling, or that the seller chose not to label
- Meets Prop 65 requirements is a floor, not a ceiling: it speaks to a defined list of chemicals at defined limits, not to everything that could be in the material
You'll see
- No Prop 65 warning on the listing or packaging
- "Meets Prop 65," "Prop 65 compliant," or "BPA-free" with no migration certification
- GREENGUARD or GREENGUARD GOLD, common on furniture, electronics, and mattresses
Ask the brand
- Is this certified to LFGB or EU 10/2011? A yes moves it to Tier 2.
- Beyond BPA, what plasticizers, stabilizers, flame retardants, or pigments are used?
In practice
- The default for most mainstream plastic goods sold in the US
- "BPA-free" is common here and only rules out one chemical, often replaced by another bisphenol like BPS
TIER 04
Use Caution
Description
No-info plastic
- Plastic with no certification, no Prop 65 status, and no additive disclosure of any kind
- You can't tell what's in it, so you can't rule anything out. The gap in information is the reason for caution
You'll see
- No material breakdown beyond "plastic"
- No certifications, no Prop 65 statement either way, no additive list
- Unbranded or unlabeled goods, often imported and inexpensive
Ask the brand
- What polymer is this and what additives are in it?
- Is it certified to any food-contact or emissions standard?
- Silence or "we can't share that" is itself an answer
In practice
- Common in marketplace listings, party and dollar-store goods, and no-name accessories
TIER 05
Harmful
Description
Plastic carrying a Prop 65 warning
- Plastic that ships with an active Prop 65 warning, meaning a listed chemical is present at a level the seller chose to label against
- Most often flexible PVC and vinyl, where phthalate plasticizers, lead or cadmium stabilizers, and pigments are the usual triggers
- See the Hazard Decoder below for what a specific warning chemical means and what to do about it
You'll see
- A printed or listing-page warning: "This product can expose you to chemicals including..."
- Soft, flexible vinyl: bags, pouches, tubing, cords, inflatables, some toys and mats
- Strong plastic smell on unboxing is a post-purchase signal
Ask the brand
- Which chemical triggers the warning?
- Is there a version without it?
- Is the product PVC or vinyl, and if so what plasticizer and stabilizer are used?
In practice
- A warning flags that exposure crossed a labeling threshold, not the size of your real-world risk, so read the Decoder to gauge it
HAZARD
Decoder
Prop 65
A Prop 65 warning on a plastic product means the brand either knows a listed substance is present above a regulatory limit, or is labeling as a legal precaution. It measures whether your potential exposure meets a certain limit. Each chemical can look alarming on first glance, but there's more nuance to whether you need to worry. For some of these, like BPA taken in by mouth and BPS, there's no safe-harbor level set, so any detectable amount triggers a warning. Read below to see what each chemical actually means and what to do about it.
The most common possibilities for a Prop 65 warning on plastic are:
- Phthalates (DEHP, DINP, BBP, DBP, DIDP, DnHP): plasticizers that make PVC and vinyl soft and flexible. Found in vinyl bags, tubing, cords, inflatables, and some toys. DEHP and DINP are listed as carcinogens; the others as reproductive or developmental toxicants.
- BPA: a building block of polycarbonate (hard, clear plastic, often resin code 7) and epoxy can linings. Listed for reproductive and developmental toxicity. "BPA-free" often means it was swapped for BPS, which is also listed.
- Styrene: listed as a carcinogen. Found in polystyrene, including clear rigid cups and foam food containers and packaging.
- Antimony trioxide: a catalyst left over from making PET (resin code 1, most water and soda bottles). Listed as a carcinogen.
- Lead and cadmium: heat stabilizers and pigments in some PVC and vinyl. Listed for cancer and reproductive harm.
What is the least toxic plastic?
The least toxic plastic is one whose additives, and the migration potential of those additive, have been tested and verified by a third party.
Chemical additives are the primary concern with any plastic. The polymer itself, the long chain that makes a plastic a plastic, is only part of the picture. Plasticizers, flame retardants, UV stabilizers, PFAS, and pigments are all added to change how a plastic looks, feels, or performs, and these additives are not bound tightly to the polymer. They can migrate out, especially with heat, fat, and time.
Even bio-based plastics, which sound healthy, can contain added chemicals that make them an unhealthy choice. "Bio-based" describes where the carbon comes from, not what's in the final product. A plant-derived plastic can carry the same plasticizers and stabilizers as a fossil-fuel one. Some bio-based plastics are chemically identical to their conventional version. Again, the source material tells you nothing about the additives.
The idea that HDPE is safer than LDPE, or that you can rank the 1-7 plastic types by health, isn't totally accurate. Those numbers are resin identification codes. They exist to sort plastics for recycling, not to rate them for safety. Two products with the same code can have completely different additives, and while it's theoretically true that HDPE resists leaching better than LDPE, I'd prefer to see ingredient lists and leaching totals done by a lab.
What's in the plastic matters more than which type it is. That's why this scale rates plastics by what can be verified about their additives and migration, not by resin code.
Third-Party Certifications for Plastic Safety
What is LFGB certification?
LFGB is Germany's food-contact safety law. It tests what migrates out of a material (including plastic) into food. The lab adds food simulants for water, acid, alcohol, and oil, into the plastic being tested, then measures what comes out, including heavy metals like lead and cadmium.
Because many products sold in Germany are also sold in other countries, it’s common to see on European products. It’s less common on US products but can be useful for imported goods and brands that sell in multiple countries. It’s OK if something doesn’t have an LFGB certification on it; this is just one potential third party certification that can ensure a plastic is better.
LFGB only applies to food-contact use plastic only, so don’t expect to see it on furniture or other home accessories.
What is EU 10/2011?
EU 10/2011 is the European Union's Plastics Regulation. It’s broader than LFGB because it covers all of the countries in the EU. It's one of the strictest food-contact plastic standards in wide use. LFGB plastic testing effectively operates under it, so the two overlap.
Like LFGB, it’s also only for plastics that touch food.
The Overall Migration Limit caps the total of everything that can leach into food at 60 mg per kg of food. On top of that, individual substances on an approved list carry their own Specific Migration Limits, each set by the European Food Safety Authority based on that substance's toxicity.
Testing simulates real use: the lab picks the food simulant, temperature, and contact time based on how the product is actually used.
What is GREENGUARD Gold, and why isn't it a top-tier plastic certification?
GREENGUARD Gold certifies emissions. It measures the VOC chemicals a product releases into indoor air and confirms they stay below set limits. The certification is absolutely meaningful, but because it doesn't test what additives are actually in the plastic, it’s less useful. A plastic can pass GREENGUARD Gold and still contain plasticizers, flame retardants, or pigments that the certification never looked at. That's why it sits one tier below a migration certification like LFGB or EU 10/2011.
Is Tritan a plastic certification? Is Tritan plastic non-toxic?
Tritan is a copolyester plastic that was designed to compete with BPA-containing polycarbonate plastic right as consumer pressure was mounting. Tritan contains no bisphenols, including BPA and BPS, and meets Prop 65. It's also GREENGUARD certified.
In 2011, two companies published a study claiming Tritan showed estrogenic activity under UV light, sometimes higher than polycarbonate. Eastman sued and won, arguing the two firms had a financial conflict: one sells the testing, the other sells a competing "estrogenic-activity-free" plastic certified by the first. So the main evidence against Tritan came from parties with a direct stake in the outcome.
The strongest safety claims, in turn, come from Eastman's own commissioned testing.
Neither side is neutral. Tritan is most likely safer than polycarbonate because it drops the bisphenols, doesn’t require the Prop 65 warning, and for an occasional-use item it's a small piece of your total exposure.
What is "food grade" plastic?
"Food grade" sounds more official than it is. It is not an FDA certification. The FDA doesn't issue a "food grade" stamp. The phrase is an informal shorthand for a material made from ingredients the FDA permits for food contact. A manufacturer can call a plastic “food grade” because the resin is on an approved list, without any third-party testing of the finished product.
That matters because the approved-ingredient list is all about the base resin, not everything added to it. A plastic can be food grade and still carry plasticizers, stabilizers, flame retardants, or pigments that the food-grade label never speaks to. The label also says nothing about how the product behaves under heat, with fatty or acidic foods, or over time, which are the conditions that actually drive what leaches out.
So "food grade" is a floor, not a guarantee. It tells you the base material is allowed for food contact. It doesn't tell you what migrates out of the finished product in real use. A migration certification like LFGB or EU 10/2011 tests that finished product against food simulants and measures what comes out, which is the question that matters. When you see "food grade" with no migration certification behind it, treat it as a starting point and ask what else is in the material.
Which certifications don't matter much for home plastics?
Some certifications come up on plastics, but don't tell you much:
NSF certification is mostly a sanitation and equipment-design standard. It checks whether commercial kitchen equipment is cleanable and built to code. Material safety is one piece of it, not the focus. An NSF mark without a standard number is vague, since NSF runs separate standards for plumbing, water treatment, and pool equipment. The food-materials piece is NSF/ANSI 51 specifically.
"FDA compliant" is not a certification. It means the material is made from FDA-approved ingredients. There's no certificate, no third-party audit, and no required product testing behind the claim. A brand asserts it.
USP Class VI and ISO 10993 are medical-device standards. They test biocompatibility for materials that may contact or be implanted in the body. If you see them on a kitchen product, it usually just means the manufacturer also sells into medical markets. They're strong standards aimed at the wrong question for home goods.
None of these are red flags. They just don't answer the additive and migration question, so they don't move a plastic up the scale on their own.
Silicone
What is silicone?
Silicone is a plastic, despite what some say! Silicone is made of silicon (no e), oxygen, and carbon.
It is a synthetic polymer (AKA, a plastic) that has a backbone of silicon and oxygen atoms, with small carbon based additives attached along the chain. This is slightly different from conventional plastics, which are built on carbon chains. But, it’s still a plastic.
The silicon comes from silica, the main component of sand. The silicon-oxygen bond is what gives silicone its heat resistance, flexibility across a wide temperature range, and better chemical stability than many other plastics.
Silicone isn't one material. By changing the chain length and cross-linking, it can be made into oil, gel, rubber, or a hard solid. The rubbery form used for bakeware, food storage, baby products, and kitchen tools is silicone rubber. It's very useful because it's largely non-reactive and stable, and it doesn't contain the bisphenols or phthalates found in many plastics. But, it can still contain other additives.
Is silicone non-toxic?
Whether silicone is non-toxic or not depends on three things:
The curing method affects how clean the finished material is. Platinum-cured silicone is safer than peroxide-cured or “food grade” silicone (see next question.)
What additives are included in it. Silicone rubber often contains fillers and additives mixed in to change its properties or lower the cost of making it.
Third party certifications showing it’s been tested by an independent lab to not leach chemical additives above a certain limit.
What additives are used to make silicone?
Besides silicon, oxygen, and carbon, chemical additives are used to combine these into a useable silicone product. This includes:
Catalysts: platinum or peroxide. Platinum residues are generally left in extremely low amounts if any, and are considered safe and stable. However, peroxide-cured silicone contains peroxide byproducts and need to be cured and baked off to remove residuals that are left over. This is why testing is important, to make sure this step is complete.
Pigments and dyes: colored silicone products contain dyes, since silicone is naturally clear or white-ish. Pigments can contain heavy metals, though are more common in uncertified, cheap imports.
Processing aids: various chemicals that control silicone production speed, hardness, or surface properties while being made. These are invisible and undisclosed, so it’s difficult to know what they are or if and how they are affecting you.
What leaches out of silicone?
Siloxanes, in addition to residual amounts of the additives above (catalysts, pigments, and processing aids) can all leach out of silicone, especially when exposed to heat, acid, or friction.
Siloxanes aren’t an intentionally added chemical, but are residual component leftover from curing. Cyclic volatile methyl siloxanes (CVMS) include D4, D5, D6…all the way up to D27. A D4 siloxane is a shorter chain than a D16; the numbers refer to how big they are.
Siloxanes D3 through D27 were found to leach out of bakeware into both food and kitchen air in a 2025 study. Repeated use of the bakeware decreased the release of siloxanes, so they leach less over time.
Are siloxanes toxic?
There is animal research showing that some, like D4, can cause endocrine disruption, reproductive toxicity, and liver toxicity in rodents. Interestingly, it may not be acting by binding endocrine receptors, but by changing the fluidity of the cell membrane, which is surprising.
D4, D5, and D6 are considered safe for people in cosmetics. This isn’t necessarily an oversight; humans are much different than rats, and we should calmly resist the urge to extrapolate! That said, sometimes regulation is slow to catch up to new evidence, and the EU has banned D4, D5, and D6 in certain cosmetics, but the US hasn’t yet.
What kind of silicone is safest?
Silicone is cured (made from a gel into a solid) in one of two ways. This method is the main thing separating cleaner silicone from silicone with leachates.
Platinum-cured silicone uses a platinum catalyst in a reaction that leaves no chemical byproducts. It's the grade used for medical devices, baby products, and food and beverage equipment. Look for "platinum" or "platinum-cured."
Peroxide-cured silicone uses organic peroxides that can leave small amounts of residue behind, which is why it's used more for industrial parts. This is often called “food grade” silicone! It can be safe; look for certification (LFGB) confirming no leaching.
What is food grade silicone?
"Food-grade” silicone is not actually a regulated term in the US!
In fact, it usually means peroxide-cured.
A peroxide-cured silicone that passes LFGB migration testing has shown it doesn't leach above the limit, which is the outcome that matters, while platinum silicone with no certification is a claim you're taking on trust.
FYI: How and why I use the words non-toxic, chemical-free, toxin, and toxic
I use the words non-toxic, chemical, toxin and toxic, even though there is no agreed-upon definition of the term non-toxic, and that everything, even water, is made of chemicals, so nothing is truly chemical-free. Likewise, toxin refers to a natural substance like a plant poison or venom, whereas toxicant is a more accurate term for the chemicals in products that have a negative health impact. I recognize that something that is toxic does not automatically make it a health risk.
I choose to use these scientifically inaccurate words anyway purely for practical purposes, for now. This is because these words are currently the most culturally agreed-upon, descriptive, and accessible terms that allow people to find the information they’re looking for.
In short, “non-toxic” is shorthand for a complicated problem. I’ll update my terminology if this changes!
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