Not for food use
The item is not meant to hold or serve food. In the US, the glass and fork in a circle with a diagonal bar is the symbol FDA allows on decorative ceramics.
Easily confused with
How to read it
US federal rules (21 CFR 109.16) cover ornamental and decorative ceramicware that looks as if it could hold food. To be treated as not for food use, a piece has to carry a stick-on label and a permanent statement on its base with one of FDA’s set messages, such as “Not for Food Use. May Poison Food”, or have a hole bored through the surface food would touch. The symbol is optional and sits alongside those words, in a circle at least 2.54 cm (1 inch) across, on the label or the base. The reason FDA gives for the rule is lead, which is used in some glazes and decorations and can leach into food.
Also searched as: crossed out glass and fork, not food safe symbol, not for food contact symbol, not for food use symbol.
These describe what each mark means and who defines it. Most are makers’ own icons rather than a standard, and the same mark can mean slightly different things on different brands. What a particular dish, pan or container can be used for is set by its maker, in its care and use instructions.
Where the symbol came from
FDA added it in its 1994 final rule. Comments on the proposal argued that written warnings would not reach illiterate people, people who don’t read English, or children, and suggested the goblet and fork used in the United Kingdom for food contact materials, in a circle with a bar running diagonally across it. FDA made the symbol optional because it had no information on how well consumers recognised it.
Where you’ll see it
The written warning is the commoner sign. New York City’s health department, describing hazardous ceramics, lists ware labelled for use only as a decorative item and carrying a warning label. The EU regulation on food contact materials reproduces only the plain glass and fork, for items that are meant for food.
Read next
- Next in Kitchenware symbolsBPA freeThe maker says the product contains no bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to make polycarbonate plastic and some can linings.
- The same shape in African flagsFlag of EthiopiaEthiopia’s flag is green, yellow and red in equal horizontal stripes with a blue disc in the centre holding a yellow star of equal lines with yellow rays. Ethiopia’s Flag Proclamation makes the green labour, fertility and development, the yellow hope, justice and equality, and the red sacrifice and heroism for freedom and equality; the blue disc is peace and the star the unity of Ethiopia’s nations, nationalities and peoples.
More kitchenware symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with circles or lines.
Sources
- 21 CFR 109.16 Ornamental and decorative ceramicware, 21 CFR 109.16, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (eCFR), § 109.16(a)–(c)
- Requirements for Decorative Ceramicware To Be Deemed Not for Food Use (final rule), 59 FR 1638 (12 January 1994), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Federal Register), Comment 2 and response
- Hazardous Products: Traditional Ceramic and Metal Ware, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Ceramic ware
- Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 on materials and articles intended to come into contact with food, Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004, European Parliament and Council of the European Union (EUR-Lex), Article 15(1)(a)
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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