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Ask HN: I accidentally left a microfiber cloth in a pot of greens – safe to eat?

2 points by jMyles ↗ HN
My neighbor and I made a pot of greens last night. We've eaten about 1/5th of the pot, and just noticed that we left a microfiber cloth (87% polyester and 13% polyamide) in the pot while it simmered overnight at low temperature.

I brought it to a brief near-boil (setting 8) for 3 minutes, then it simmered on a setting of '2' for about 4-5 hours, and then a setting of '1' for 4-5 more. Well below boiling.

I took it out of course, but now I wonder: is it safe to eat the rest of the pot?

I realllly want to eat it; it has yummy local collard greens, turnips, and pasture-raised pork. And it's delicious.

My best guess is that it wasn't really hot enough, for long enough, to create a level of exposure that's a measurable health risk in one pot of greens.

But if there's somebody here who works frequently with these materials (or who has recently refreshed themselves on the available evidence), I'd love to hear empirical thoughts.

6 comments

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Grosvenor
Don't eat microfibre, it's not good for you.
jMyles
Well yeah, but does simmering on low for 8 hours and then removing constitute eating?
LarsAlereon
This is going to be impossible to answer definitively because we don't know exactly what materials the cloth was made of and what additives or dyes it may have contained or absorbed. If it was brand new I would be a lot more worried, if it has been previously washed a few times and only used to clean kitchen messes I would be less concerned. In very general terms polyester is food safe and they sell boiling bags made of polyester. Polyamide cooking utensils are advised not to be used above 70C due to potential leaching of contaminants, but there probably simply isn't very much material in terms of weight to create an issue.

Overall, if it was a brand new cloth or had previously been used to clean toxic chemicals like motor oil, you should discard all of the remaining food. If the cloth had only been used food spills and previously washed...I still wouldn't eat it, but I could see why someone who is more chancey with their food might.

jMyles
Yeah, it was an old kitchen cloth, washed many times, including freshly washed right before the incident.

Do you think we'd be feeling any effects from the portion we already ate?

If not, do you think that's a data point in favor of eating the rest?

gregjor
You probably shouldn’t eat a microfiber cloth.