i would listen to these warnings. i know how devastating it can be to lose a valued item like that, but it really would be irresponsible to use it to serve food again. i know id be a little upset if i saw a friend had made my dinner with such a colander, as dickish as it may sound.

i don’t know how sound your theory here is. i’m not a chemist or a food scientist myself but hang around a lot of them for my studies and work rn. i sincerely doubt the veracity of it being “still as food-safe as it was,” as even just the coating being porous could render it an unsafe surface to prepare food upon. and again, that’s assuming that is the only thing that’s different about the coating, which is a bold assumption.

edit: if you really cannot part with it (which again, is understandable) then i second everyone telling you to get it refurbished/do it yourself by sandblasting all of the existing coating off ~~and then reapplying a new ceramic coating (you can go with other food safe options that don’t require a high temp furnace but at this point of this process we’re getting into “can easily fuck it up more permanently” territory, hence the recommendation for professional services if this colander is that important)~~. depending on when the ceramic was made, what the coating is, and other factors this could definitely be anywhere from “cool to do in the garage on a nice day” to “absolutely do not get anywhere near the dust and keep good track of every single bit of it” levels of danger.

quick edit again: i didn’t wanna misinform you so i asked my friend who’s into ceramics rq. i was wrong. seems only the high temp silica glazes are food safe, all the enamel stuff you can do at home isn’t kosher for eating with apparently. my apologies

Removing existing rust isn’t the same as preventing future rust though. That it had rust at all indicates that whatever protective coating was there is no longer there. The dishwasher with likely accelerate the rusts reappearance

Oh no.

Thanks for letting me know. I may have access to that kind of furnace, but I’m not sure I could convince them to put my stupid little colander in there, because that’s silly.

I appreciate your insight, even though it makes me sad. I kinda thought that might be the case, though. Cheers.

I still wouldn't rule out being able to polish it with a very fine abrasive, like the 3m sheets, rouge, or such, especially if you can make a small test with something you already have. Possibly toothpaste might work.