Kitchenaid lead recall fears swarm social media as petition receives more than 2,000 signatures

The Whirlpool-owned kitchen appliances brand, Kitchenaid, is holding center stage as customers are swarming the internet with fears of a recall following reports of alleged high lead contamination in its stand mixers.

Customers across the country have taken to the internet to either share their confusion or criticize the brand for the alleged high presence of lead contaminants in the mixer attachments.

Claims about the presence of lead contaminants in the brand's products are based upon research conducted by an independent consumer safety advocate named Tamara Rubin (Lead Safe Mama, LLC/LeadSafeMama.com). As confusion rises among the masses, Tamara has already started a Change.org petition.

Currently, at more than 2,900 digital signatures, the petition demands that the company stop using lead in food-contact mixer attachments, offer free replacements, recall the affected products from the market, and publish a public statement regarding the same.

A Redditor claiming to be an 'Analytic Chemist' had an interesting point to share. In response to a question about the Kitchenaid controversy, the user stated that the "misinformation" was being spread by a single person who may "gain financially" from the matter.

The user also suggested that the concerned reports may not be very reliable as the method used to conduct the test was known to give false positives when conducted without proper training and protocols.

Considering that the allegedly contaminated products have been on the market for more than 10 years without any interventions by the health and safety authorities, their chances of being safe may be higher than what the reports claimed.

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Do the Kitchenaid stand mixer attachments contain lead?

Tamara is said to have first brought the matter to public attention in 2014 after conducting tests on over a hundred Kitchenaid mixer attachments. Though her test methods may seem questionable, she claims that "nearly all" of the tested attachments were found to be contaminated with lead.

The petition she started on Change.org also mentions the presence of antimony (a known carcinogen) in the cords on the mixers. The petition further indicates the potential chances of a high level of lead contamination in the brightly-colored enamel coatings of the stand mixers.

a new model of the concerned brightly colored stand-mixer (Image via Kitchenaid)

As things stand, none of her claims seem to have been backed by lab tests or research conducted by an official organization or government-owned body. Even ClassAction.org, an independent body of legal professionals dealing with class action lawsuits, seems to have stopped its investigations into Kitchenaid stand mixer attachments allegedly being contaminated with high levels of lead.

Neither the concerned authorities nor the Whirlpool-owned brand has made any comments on the matter for now, but we may get clarification from either in due time. Though there may be no risk in using them, customers feeling uneasy and skeptical about the products could keep them away until they receive proper news regarding the same.

Those who may wish to get in touch with the company to clear their doubts about the product can contact Kitchenaid toll-free at (800) 422-1230, Monday through Friday. The company can also be contacted via emails sent to [email protected] throughout the day.