# Is rusty cutlery dangerous? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2004, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476 "2004-12-01T12:03:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/1 "2004-12-01T12:03:23Z")
'Cos most of mine seems to be going rusty. But I have to buy cheaper stuff 'cos it all slowly disappears anyway. But is the rust going to give me some ghastly disease or am I okay? What about my little girl? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/2 "2004-12-01T12:28:07Z")
Yes it’s dangerous. One word: tetanus. That’s one illness you really do not want to get. Rust happens more easily if different metals touch each other while wet (it took me a year to convince Mom that yes, silver cutlery is dishwater-washable but if you mix it with the steel, then the silver gets black, i.e., rusts). This is called anodization, where the two metals think they’re a battery, so one goes and gets oxidized (rusty). Your cutlery will last longer if you do not mix different types in the washer and if you dry it off asap. Do you know those pieces of cutlery where the handle is mostly plastic, with a couple of metal bolts through and this metal ring attaching the blade to the handle? Some of those use different metals for the blade and for the parts in the handle, so they’re pretty crappy because each single part anodizes! My own cutlery set is from when I lived in the US, I got it in one of those stores that sell stuff from closeouts. Each piece is stainless steel and it’s one single part (so I was sure I wasn’t even getting two different stainless-steel qualities, which would count as different metals). It cost me $10 in 1998. Weighs a ton but it’s lasting well. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/3 "2004-12-01T13:09:41Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Yes it’s dangerous. One word: tetanus. That’s one illness you really do not want to get. Tetanus is not caused by rusty cutlery, it is caused by a bacterium, _Clostridium tetani_, which is commonly found is soil and manure. The association with rusty nails is due to the likelyhood that rusty nails are usually found on the ground; the fact that they are rusty is incidental to the likelyhood that they will cause tetanus. The only way rusty cutlery could cause tetanus would be if it was in contact with a tetanus bacterium source (soil or manure). Rusty cutlery that has not been so exposed is no more likely to cause tetanus than new cutlery. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/4 "2004-12-01T13:45:26Z")
Unfortunately just seconds before reading that last post, I ran outside and buried all my rusty cutlery beneath a pile of manure. So I will pick up some stainless steel one-piece non-rusty cutlery when I’m at the shops this afternoon, if I ever get there. Thanks for your help. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/5 "2004-12-01T13:50:30Z")
You are Salad Fingers and I claim my £5. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/6 "2004-12-01T14:01:57Z")
You know, it’s a pity that when my brothers used the spoons to imitate Mom’s gardening, she didn’t take pictures: she would scream, grab spoon in one hand and boy in the other and send the boy to their room and the spoon to be washed. With a kid in the house, you can never be sure where the spoons have been 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/7 "2004-12-01T14:22:39Z")
I would have thought that, far from being dangerous, rust was providing your body with an essential element (iron). With a normal diet, you are unlikely to be iron-deficient, though young women on diets that avoid iron-rich foods like red meat might have some problems. I don’t think that yuou are very likely to suffer from having too much iron in your diet, however. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/8 "2004-12-01T14:35:02Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I would have thought that, far from being dangerous, rust was providing your body with an essential element (iron). With a normal diet, you are unlikely to be iron-deficient, though young women on diets that avoid iron-rich foods like red meat might have some problems. I don’t think that yuou are very likely to suffer from having too much iron in your diet, however. Too much iron can be very dangerous! According to my doctor (and [this site](http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins/iron-overdose.html)): > [@](#): > > Even a small amount of excess iron can damage heart and brain and other storage sites in the body and lead to heart attack or stroke. There is exaggerated concern when hemoglobin falls temporarily, following surgery, for example. Blood transfusions are over-used. A study shows that surgery patients who do not receive transfusions survive better than those who do. > > \ > > Excess stored iron can lead to atherosclerosis and ischemic heart disease. Phlebotomy, or blood removal, has been used to reduce stored iron in patients with iron overload with some success. Iron chelation with drugs such as desferrioxamine (Desferal) that help patients excrete excess stores of iron can be helpful in treating iron overload caused by multiple blood transfusions. You need very \*little \*iron in your diet. About 1 milligram a day. (1.5 for menstruating women.) Excess iron is not excreted, so a buildup can happen pretty quickly. Most drug store vitamins contain way too much iron - about 18 milligrams! Look for a low or no iron supplement unless your doc says otherwise. Really, is it worth it? Chuck the rusty spoons and hie thee to a thrift store for non-rusty ones, if the expense at Target is too much. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/9 "2004-12-01T16:30:39Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I would have thought that, far from being dangerous, rust was providing your body with an essential element (iron). With a normal diet, you are unlikely to be iron-deficient, though young women on diets that avoid iron-rich foods like red meat might have some problems. I don’t think that yuou are very likely to suffer from having too much iron in your diet, however. I’m not a chemist or a physician but I don’t think iron oxide is in a compound that the body can process to get the iron it needs. Iron oxide requires a lot of energy to break the iron-oxygen bond and get access to the iron and I suspect that biological processes just can’t produce the required energy. Of course I’ve been wrong about a few things on exceedingly rare occasions. Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/10 "2004-12-01T16:34:24Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > You are Salad Fingers and I claim my £5. 😃 ::sighs in a very Salad Fingery way:: ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/11 "2004-12-01T16:35:33Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > I’m not a chemist or a physician but I don’t think iron oxide is in a compound that the body can process to get the iron it needs. Iron oxide requires a lot of energy to break the iron-oxygen bond and get access to the iron and I suspect that biological processes just can’t produce the required energy. > > Of course I’ve been wrong about a few things on exceedingly rare occasions. > > Anybody? I dunno. But I also dunno what other food chemicals that would contact the rust (i.e. acids, sugars, high calcium foods) might do to bugger up the equation. Which brings me back to - is it worth it? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/12 "2004-12-01T17:16:53Z")
I am a (lapsed) chemist and can tell you that **no** , rusty cutelry isn’t going to do you any harm. Iron oxide is an **approved food colorant** , both in the US and in Europe, and is labelled as [E172](http://www.themeter.net/coloranti_e.htm) in Europe. It will not do you any harm. And to suggest a link with tetanus is just ridiculous. The _only_ possible reason for chucking it out is that a rough, corroded surface will be harder to keep clean than a shiny metal surface, and will have more nooks and crannies for food to get trapped in. But if you’re just talking about a few surface rust spots, it is absolutely nothing to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/13 "2004-12-01T17:20:49Z")
> [@Ross](#): > > 'Cos most of mine seems to be going rusty. But I have to buy cheaper stuff 'cos it all slowly disappears anyway. > > But is the rust going to give me some ghastly disease or am I okay? What about my little girl? Good source of iron!! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/14 "2004-12-01T19:54:07Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > You need very \*little \*iron in your diet. About 1 milligram a day. (1.5 for menstruating women.) Excess iron is not excreted, so a buildup can happen pretty quickly. Excess iron is not excreted, but neither is it absorbed from the gut in the first place. The cells lining your gut have a rather sophisticated system in place for measuring how much iron is already floating around your bloodstream, and won’t take up iron from your food unless you need it. So most likely, any rust you may consume will just shoot right through you. ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/15 "2004-12-01T20:06:56Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > …any rust you may consume will just shoot right through you. And on that note, we should provide a link to the “What foods will color my pee/poo” thread… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/16 "2004-12-01T21:21:01Z")
My doc told me the last time I stepped on a nail that tetanus was a big risk on deep wounds because it’s anerobic bacteria that grows in the absence of air. Cutlery should not be allowed to get rusty. I never put good knives in the dishwasher except for some stainless steak knives with laminated handles that are specifically dishwasher safe. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rusty-cutlery-dangerous/277476/17 "2004-12-01T23:24:10Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > My doc told me the last time I stepped on a nail that tetanus was a big risk on deep wounds because it’s anerobic bacteria that grows in the absence of air. And he’s right, but my guess is that neither the nail nor your foot was very clean. Deep puncture wounds are a serious tetanus concern if there’s a chance that the object that made the wound pushed some tetanus bacteria in there with it. This can happen if there’s tetanus on the object or on the skin. Then the muscles and skin slap shut, and now you have a wonderful anaerobic environment for the tetanus to grow in. If there’s no bacteria (like there wouldn’t be on clean kitchenware) and your skin is clean, there’s no tetanus risk. I suppose if you were out mucking hay and then came into the kitchen, didn’t wash your hands and stabbed yourself with a fork, you might have a problem - but you’d have the same problem whether the fork was rusty or not. [FAQ on tetanus](http://www.nfid.org/factsheets/tetanusadult.html)