Barbara Correa writes about work and family for the Los Angeles Daily News.Lowdown on the Latest Recall
So, I got a bit more information that gives me some confidence that there's no need to panic every time Mattel, or the California Public Health Department, issues a new recall. I spoke to the department this morning, and they said some bad lunch bags were almost certainly distributed at some LAUSD schools given the size of the district. And the lead levels in those bags was pretty high.
On the other hand, I spoke to The Tin Box Co., which makes Disney's lunch boxes and supplies Walmart and Target. Lloyd Roth, president of the company, says his ink from China and Japan has always been tested, and the stores that buy this stuff also test them, and the lead levels are way below U.S. government standards.
He also said that since Mattel started making all this noise about possible problems with lead, Tin Box has added yet another layer of testing to its own process: during the last month or so, the company, based in Farmingdale, New York, has been sending out samples of its finished products to a lab in Manhattan before they go to market for one more independent test, and he's been happy with the results.
"We send it to a lab and they scrape [the ink] off,'' he said. "We don’t want people to feel uncomfortable.''
Since the company has been making tins with cookies or candy or some other kind of food inside for 50 years, it has always done a lot of testing -- its part of the way they do business. So go right ahead -- pack the kid's lunch in a Tin Box Co. lunch box. I'd hold off on anything government issued, though.