If he can taste it, I'd be reluctant to use it.... just to be safe.

I don't' think the "rubber" utensils are supposed to be use to cook aka in heat, with. Silicone, is supposed to be safe.

But sometimes I wonder about that too.

If it metal, until H freezes over. If plastic, throw away.

ETA: I use metal with wood handles from the 70’s and wooden spoons. I use no plastic and for sure no silicone.

DH says he can smell it, and he can taste it in his scrambled eggs; he says it is somewhat lemony.

That sounds like detergent residue. My (otherwise not terribly picky) DH will not drink from a glass that was in the DW w/o rinsing it first. I would say 🙄 but that about completes his list of peccadilloes and my list would run to several pages with footnotes, so ...

That’s what DH was debating, whether it is from the dishwasher detergent versus deterioration?

Lemony sounds like detergent, since I assume it's well cleaned, I have some, um, “heritage” spatulas (decades old, from my folks old camping gear), though use them rarely and with care. It's pretty easy to tell which ones are deteriorating. They get hard, worn looking at the edges and discolored. I've never had one taste funny let alone make the food taste funny, and never taste of anything but plastic. You could try soaking it and rubbing it dry to see if it still tastes funny.

I have a couple of silicone spatulas bit I don’t use them for cooking (as in heating), just for mixing and scraping. And i am picky about what I put in the dishwasher and those do not go in, nor do most of my utensils that have any type of coating. Yes, i have some black ones that I have used probably too long. A couple of spatulas, a favorite spoon, all used for non-stick pans, and are hand washed.

Definitely detergent. My MIL was known for her snickerdoodles. They tasted like Palmolive because of the storage container she gave them away in. I'm a supertaster so I'm the only one who noticed. I wash all of my baking pans, utensils, and storage containers in unscented dish detergent. I have silicone spatulas designated for baking and eggs. I have never tasted dishwasher detergent on dishes.

Interesting about the detergent, I don’t find that the Finish tabs have a lemony scent.

Eileen, DH is a bit of a supertaster. He also cooks by smell, he can tell when something is done by the smell.

Sigh, I guess I have to handwash the things that aren’t metal/ceramic/glass.

Can't you get unscented dishwasher detergent?

Rubber spatulas taste bad when eating cookie dough off them. PS I dont know anyone who died from eating raw cookie dough.

Yes, I get unscented detergent, but it's eco not gonzo.

When in doubt, throw it out! This has always worked for me 😀

I wish there was a “hahahaha “ icon

🤣

Jilly —- ha ha giggle

Use stainless or wood. wash wood by hand, hot water ;-)

➡️ https://strategiesforparents.com/eyeing-or-eying-understanding-the-proper-usage-of-these-terms/

I have wood utensils that have gone in the dishwasher for decades, still in good shape.

But ya know, there’s nothing like a flexible scraper for getting the side and corner of a pan.

Did you recently change your dish liquid or the dishwasher detergent? Maybe that's what it is, something new. I know that Dawn recently changed their scent and I'm not a fan of it. I would be willing to bet that what your husband is smelling IS a cleaner, could be on any of the items used, even the plate or fork etc.

We’ve used Finish for years, but who knows if they changed their formula, or if we’ve had an off-batch lately. (Dh likes to shop at this store where we know things are sometimes suspect. Don’t get me started!)

I had that experience with Finish DW detergent. Every time I would raise a glass to drink I smelled this perfune like smell. My Dh thought it was my imagination. He doesn't have a very sensitive sniffer and mine is ultra sensitive. Once we switched DW detergents the smell was gone.

We used one of those DW cleaning products once and it left an awful lemony taste on the next few loads of dishes that we ran through the DW. Kept rewashing everything until all that stuff was gone from the DW.

Maybe buy a new spatula and see if he still super-tastes the off-flavor?

Hey John Liu, you were on Jeopardy last night. It was either you or someone with your name. 😉I think you’re the new champion.

If you are wanting to buy new spatulas (or spoonulas), I like these

https://www.thermoworks.com/hi-temp-silicone-spatulas/

Have you considered placing it in a bag with some baking soda. If it is from your detergent or DW cleaning product baking soda should absorb the smell.

OH I love my silicone spatulas that I have, they are also great for getting every little bit out of jars! :)

I must have been sleep gameshowing. Did I win any money? Where is it?!

Sadly, my name is the commonest. “John”, of course. Total yawner. ”Liu”, go look in the phone book in San Francisco or anywhere with lots of Chinese, if you can find a phone book anymore that is, and there will be pages and pages of us.

We’re not all related, even tangentially, some are fake “Liu”s.

A long time ago, during the greatest and most fearsome dynasty in China’s history - the Han Dynasty of COURSE - the dynastic name was ”Liu”, and we never let anyone forget it. There was even an time, that we tut-tut about but are secretly pleased with, when we killed off families not named “Liu” who had any semblance of wealth or power that might threaten us. That was when the fakes arose, as the craven Wangs and Woans changed their names to ”Liu” and tried to pass themselves as us. We didn’t let the imposters live, but some slipped through and carry on today with our name.

The Jeopardy guy is the real deal, though. Has to be.

That story of righteous massacre is true, by the way. I read it in a soporific book, ” The History Of China”, and that was as far as I got before the tedium was too much. I’d rather read about the history of France, or Marseille. But anyway when I was in high school the mouth-breathers didn’t appreciate the nobility of the name, and pronounced it ”Loo”, and one day the smartest of them, blessed with an IQ only barely sub-simian, started yelling ”Toilet! Toilet!” at me, so chuffed with his perspicacity that he probably told the story in his application to the College of Rock Breakers. I transferred away from that school and moved out West.

No, we didn’t massacre him or his family. We’ve largely given up such behavior. Living in America has made us soft-hearted. It must be the food.

No, no, the food just makes us soft bellied...

I was all ready to say my favorite utensil is a metal spatula that I believe is Farberware from my mother's kitchen and I believe the same one I used when I was learning to bake. It makes me happy every time make a batch of cookies. As far as perfumy anything that has been in a DW, the one time I bought DW pods thinking they'd be handy, everything was perfumy, but noticed it most on soft utensils. I ran a cycle with no detergent (might have put baking soda in) and went back to buying and dosing detergent the old fashioned way. I do the same with laundry for the same reason - pods are too much for high efficiency appliances and tend to leave residues. My DW does use a rinse agent but I have not noticed a problem there -- the smell would be different. That is something dosed out by your DW, so if the smell is more the rinse agent, that dispenser could be failing.

Reading this reminded me that my old silicone spatulas seemed to pick up scents when left to soak in soapy dishwater. Nothing was transferred to foods, but I could taste it when I licked the spatula - as one does 😋

FWIW, I've soaked things in white vinegar to help deodorize them.

I can also taste the detergent on the dishes, etc. and only use one with no fragence. The only one I accasionally problem is with the silcone washed with something oniony.

For years I have only buying utensils that are stainless, and some of mine are really old. I have some stainless glasses from the 1950! and a stainless spatuala from the 70s from an estate sale. Now I like give stainless gifts to my family.