Cooking tomato sauce in a copper pot can lead to what health risk?

Cooking tomato sauce in a copper pot can lead to toxic-metal poisoning primarily due to the acidic nature of tomatoes. When acidic foods like tomato sauce are cooked in a copper pot, they can react with the copper, resulting in the leaching of copper ions into the food. Consuming high levels of copper can lead to copper toxicity, which can cause various health issues such as gastrointestinal distress, headaches, and even more severe conditions with chronic exposure.

In this context, microbial contamination, chemical burns, and allergic reactions are not the primary concerns associated with using copper pots for cooking acidic foods. Microbial contamination typically results from improper food handling or storage rather than the cooking vessel. Chemical burns could occur from using inappropriate cleaning agents or methods, but they are not directly related to cooking in copper. Allergic reactions might occur due to certain food ingredients but are not a specific risk linked to the use of copper cookware. Therefore, the risk associated with cooking tomato sauce in a copper pot is most accurately identified as toxic-metal poisoning.