Are black plastic spatulas really that bad? Your exposure to toxins from popular cooking utensils may not be as extreme as recent study suggested.

In October, home chefs and foodies collectively freaked out when research was published that detected toxic flame retardants in black-colored plastic. The study, which was published in the journal Chemosphere, detailed how high levels of these flame retardants were found in kitchen utensils, food containers, trays used to hold meat and even toys. Those flame retardants are linked with cancer and developmental issues, among other things.

The researchers ultimately concluded that recycling electronics that contain flame retardants was to blame, noting in the study that it was “resulting in unexpected exposure to toxic flame retardants in household items.”

Now, there’s a development in the story: As the National Post reports, the researchers made a miscalculation when crunching the data, suggesting that the findings aren’t as bad as they originally seemed.

So did you throw out your black plastic spatula for no good reason? Here’s what you need to know about the update — and what the data actually means for you and your kitchen.

The miscalculation was pretty big

The original study broke down a lot of different things, including the detection of decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) in black plastic products. DecaBDE is a type of brominated flame retardant banned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2021.

In the study, researchers estimated that using black plastic kitchenware could cause an intake of 34,700 nanograms a day of decaBDE. But, in a section of the study on “Health and Exposure Concerns,” the researchers said that amount “would approach” the established safe exposure limit set by the EPA (also known as a reference dose).

The study notes that the reference dose for decaBDE is 7,000 nanograms per kilogram of body weight a day; the reference dose for a 60-kilogram (132-pound) adult, it calculated, would be 42,000 nanograms a day. That would put this exposure at more than 80% of the EPA’s limit.

Here’s the thing: The math was incorrect. Sixty multiplied by 7,000 is actually 420,000, not 42,000. As a result, the exposure amount of 34,700 nanograms a day of decaBDE from black plastic is less than a 10th of the established EPA limit.

Megan Liu, lead study author and science and policy manager at Toxic-Free Future, tells Yahoo Life that this was a “minor point” in the study. “We feel bad that this happened,” she adds.

Liu says that she and her research team have submitted a correction to the journal, which should be published soon.

But this may not change the conclusion

Despite the mathematical error, Liu says that people should still be wary of black plastic kitchen utensils. “Our findings and conclusions are unaffected,” Liu says.

“Our conclusion was never drawn from this calculation comparison,” Liu continues. “These highly hazardous cancer-causing products shouldn’t be in the products that touch our food. There are safer alternatives out there.”

Liu also stresses that decaBDE “is just one type of chemical in one product that we saw,” noting that “some products had nine different flame retardants.”

Should you throw out your black plastic cooking utensils?

While the presence of decaBDE may not be as intense as previously thought, Liu still says that people should reconsider using black plastic cooking utensils.

“These products shouldn’t even have these flame retardants to begin with,” she says. “They’re still associated with cancer, neurological effects and developmental harm.”

But Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a toxicologist at MedStar Health, tells Yahoo Life that it’s important to keep the findings in perspective. “In the current study, researchers found high levels of bromine — and thus suspected contamination from brominated fire-retardant chemicals — in just around 10% of the black plastic household products tested, which suggests that the vast majority of black plastic household items do not contain these contaminants,” she says. As a result, most black plastic cooking utensils “may not pose an increased risk of toxicity to humans from this perspective,” Johnson-Arbor says.

Jamie Alan, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, also points out that the methodology for detecting these chemicals is different from how people use them.

"They measured the amount of chemicals in black cooking utensils by literally melting them down and running them through a machine," Alan says. "We aren’t doing that when we are using these items. We still don’t know how much of the chemicals actually make their way into the food."

And of the amount that does make it into food, only a certain portion will be taken in by the body, Alan says. "Overall we don’t know how much makes it into our body and the effects that these chemicals will have at that concentration, whatever that ends up being," she says.

While the updated calculation has a lower impact than the original one, “this study just reveals one of the ways we’re exposed to flame retardants in our daily life,” Liu says. “We’re already exposed through our electronics, automobiles, furniture … this is part of the big picture of exposure,” she adds.

Liu says her advice is the same as it's been: “If you can, reduce your use of plastic. Not just black plastic, but plastic in general, [which] can reduce your exposure to any harmful chemical additives.”