That might be one of the easiest use cases for me to justify spending more on quality, not that I would trust Amazon to sell quality, but from a reputable brand or retail store.
I am assuming that a plastic spatula will degrade when heated up, and a lower quality plastic will have a higher probability of degrading and depositing plastic into the food being cooked, which then gets ingested of course.
It could be quite difficult to tell the difference between the two spatulas. They might be identical. Just because it costs more is no guarantee of higher qualify.
As goes with everything in life, nothing is certain. But I operate under the assumption that there is a higher probability that a reputable brand known for selling higher quality goods is actually selling higher quality goods and performing the necessary quality control measures to ensure it.
Of course, one also has to remain informed on which brands are decreasing their quality and cashing in on their reputation.
Well GP was talking about amazon, so there's a fair chance that the $7 was also low quality chinese junk,and if you wanted higher quality stuff you'd need to shell out $15 at least.
Hence ... brands, and other forms of reputation generation and management. Sure, these things are never a guarantee of quality, but the brand owners want you to feel that they are.
I am assuming that a plastic spatula will degrade when heated up, and a lower quality plastic will have a higher probability of degrading and depositing plastic into the food being cooked, which then gets ingested of course.