www.winterthurgifts.com/product.cfm/mc/1/ct/12/sid/3196

I have still learned NOTHING about the possibilities of this pattern leaching lead. Anything new that anyone here has found out please post. I'll keep checking back. Thanks.

Thanks again.

Thank you so, so much for any help you can provide me! It will be greatly appreciated!!

i immediately went to lowes and purchased lead testing kits. my mustard yellow hometrends dinnerware was _negative_. there is no apparent problem with this particular dinnerware.

i am sooooo glad too. i have had this dinnerware for several years. it has been the best lasting dinnerware!!! no chips, cracks, no troubles!! as far as durability goes, i would highly recommend hometrends or wentworth (which i also own and tested) dinnerware.

just a thought...i am going to carry a lead testing kit with me in my purse (only about $3 at lowes) just to be sure __before__ puchase.

I came across something odd today. Our local liquidation world had a large shipment of dishes with "Home Trends" covered with a blank label, plus each dish had "Home Trends" scratched off. Why would this be? The pattern I liked is called Rave Blue. A 4 place setting costs $22. I picked up a few boxes, but I can easily return them.

Thanks to all for the great information offered here.

Just hours ago, I purchased 2 of the open stock Jazz pattern dinner plates, just to see if they went with my decor before I invested in a whole set.

They matched beyond perfectly, pulling together all the colors of my kitchen/family room. I was so excited!

Now, of course, I'm worried about the lead issues and being able to obtain the remaining pieces, but grateful for finding out that I need to check for lead. I'll be going to HD tomorrow, first thing, and getting a lead testing kit.

I'll report back my findings.

He shows patterns. He said most Home trend were acceptable until heated to 85 degrees..than they leached lead.

BTW, concerns about lead glazing, while valid, are probably more usually valid in pieces with bright colors. IIRC (from my pottery days), lead is primarily (though not solely) sought as a cheap enhancing agent for the brighter colors in the glazing process. Majolica (the real stuff :-)), for example, is notorious for its use of lead glazing for precisely this reason.

One is that if you have these dishes and you like them and you're concerned about the possibility of lead poisoning, by all means get a kit and test them. Your peace of mind is worth a few bucks and a little trouble. But keep in mind that the area you should be concerned about is the part that food comes in contact with. To a large extent, lead that may be present in areas that don't come in contact with food isn't going to be ingested and therefore isn't really relevant.

Also, since lead is used to intensify colors, the possibility of leachable lead being present is much more likely in areas of highly colored decoration than in areas where there is no decoration. So the point is that you should make sure you test the service area of your dinnerware. On items like bowls, where the service area is frequently undecorated, testing the decorated outside could indicate a problem where there really isn't one. Conversely, on a plate, testing the the undecorated bottom could miss a potential problem on the decorated service area on top.

Also, be sure NOT to use ANY dinnerware that is cracked or chipped. This is because most painted decoration is under the glaze. The glaze in effect isolates any lead-bearing pigment from your food. It also isolates the lead-bearing pigment from your testing (i.e, your test kit won't detect lead if it's in a pigment under a layer of glaze). But: if the item is cracked, then liquid may be able to reach the pigment and leach out the lead.

Finally, some of you are possibly wondering about the lead in lead crystal, which typically has 24 per cent lead content by weight, and whether there's any lead in the glaze on your dinnerware. Lead in glass (and that includes glaze, which is essentially baked-on glass) is tightly bound chemically into the glass. It is NOT "leachable" (which is why the word "leachable" is so important). So glaze is your friend. If the glaze is chipped or flaked or cracked, it's not a good idea to use your plate. By the same token, underglaze decoration is much safer than decoration that's added after glazing (overglaze). As an added bonus, the glaze protects the decoration from wear (overglaze items almost always require hand washing). Whether the decoration is under or on top of the glaze is so important that you'll often see terms such as "underglaze" right on the label.

I have written to WalMart, the FDA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission with all of the information and I'm waiting to hear back.

The plates were sold under the name "Home Trends," and while no longer on store shelves, are likely on some the shelves of some consumer's cupboards. There's been no recall for the plates.

Was this part of the Home Trends Series?
Has it been tested for lead?
Is it safe?