Food Grade Plastic

                             FOOD GRADE MATERIAL

 

"Food grade material" basically means any material which when it comes in contact with food or is the area near food is unlikely to contaminate food with harmful materials above the FDA allowed limit (in PPM or parts per million).

 

For instance, propylene glycol can be used as a lubricant under certain circumstances, and is even used as a food additive within limits. It has very low toxicity, therefore a high PPM is allowable, but you wouldn't want to actually drink the stuff. If you're going to use it in a manufacturing process for food you have to be able to show that using it will not result in a concentration above the allowable PPM. 

 

Some but not all plastics are allowed in food handling and manufacturing. The determination whether they are allowable includes several variables, including how toxic that material is, under what circumstances (besides just concentration) it is more (or less) toxic, and how much of the material is likely to end up in the food. Some materials outgas -- that is they emit gases as a result of how they are created or how they break down after being created or how they are affected by the environment in which you place them (a hot environment, for example, or one with a specific chemical in it that is not especially compatible with another material) -- and other materials slough off molecules as they meet abrasion or other materials. The method of use may have something to do with it ... if an abrasive environment is employed then materials which might slough high amounts of molecules have to be considered carefully for their effect (the level of toxicity).

 

 

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