Epicurean Cutting Boards Made With Formaldehyde Glue!!?!

[Ioanna]

A brand new Epicurean Cutting Surface like the professionals use. Pros: According to the company, “Epicurean Cutting Surfaces® are made with eco select paper from trees harvested under guidelines of the North America Sustainable Forestry Standards. 60% of the energy used to produce the raw material is from renewable energy.” The surfaces are knife-friendly and require no maintenance. Cons: The boards are “made up of layers of paper that are then soaked with phenolic resin and cured to create a solid sheet.” Not knowing what phenolic resin was, I looked it up. According to Wikipedia, it’s a combination of phenol (a toxic, colourless crystalline solid) and formaldehyde and is what the Bakelite, the very first plastic, was made from. Well, that didn’t sound terribly green to me.

[KD]

artificial resins are really nasty, but mostly when they are still wet and fumey. Resin essentially is a word like plastic or metal, it can be pretty much anything, and is pretty much as common in modern devices and so forth. fiberglass is a fairly commonly use of resin that is everywhere. I see what you mean, particular in regards to food prep, but I guess one could argue its green-er than a totally plastic surface as far as materials, and whatever other 'work'/production claims they are making. It could very well be less toxic then plastic. Lots of tabletops in chinsey restaurants are clear cheap resin (those kinds that have images/photographs underneath).