Lead leaching from pressure cookers

Leachability of lead by tap water and tamarind solution from Indian pressur e cookers while cooking with and without a safety valve is studied. Lead co ntamination of food by cookers is not very high when compared to the daily intake of lead from various food items consumed by the Indian community. Ho wever, looking at the very wide range of lead levers leached from various b rands of pressure cookers, it certainly seems possible to keep the lead con tamination to the minimum by proper choice of the materials used in the man ufacture of these pressure cookers. The rubber gasket, which is a very impo rtant component of any pressure cooker, contains the maximum lead concentra tion; the safety valve is another important source leading to lead contamin ation of cooked food. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.