Printed items safe for food?

General Discussion
1

I downloaded this citrus juicer file from thingiverse - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:44328. I was wondering, after the item has cured is it safe to use on food items?

2

The short answer is NO and the long answer is HELL NO.

5 Likes
3

It’s always good practice to check out the MSDS of any foreign material prior to working with it (or trying to juice with it).

@Monger_Designs is correct, none of our resins are food safe.

1 Like
7

I’ve heard no, it contains a lot of dangerous elements

1 Like
8

Here’s the thing, Formlabs makes resins which, once cured, are designed to be placed in your mouth, in place of your teeth. They will be used to grind your food up so you can swallow it. They’re called crown and bridge resins, and they’re expensive, but they’re definitely food safe, since they are, let me repeat, IN YOUR MOUTH by design. However, this is only if you follow all the prescribed curing and washing specifications (if I recall, including 99% IPA, and a pretty high heat for curing).

Now, are they FDA approved for food? No. FDA has approved them to go into your mouth, grinding food, but not to be made into plates, forks, and juicers. The question is - why the difference? The answer probably has to do with money. In order to get FDA approval, Formlabs would likely have to pay the FDA more money for testing, which is expensive. In my opinion, the FDA approval process in the US almost seems like bribery, but I could digress a whole lot into that subject.

But use your judgment, if you have a fake resin tooth grinding against real teeth, probably leaving traces to go down your throat, how safe is a juicer which is used infrequently for soft, pulpy citruses?

1 Like
11

Thanks for the info guys I also have some doubts regarding its safety for food.

1 Like
12

Atleast have the courtsey to reply….

13

Hi @alphayash,

Not sure if you were referring to me or the previous replies, but the other comments are a couple of months old on an 8 year old post. I don’t think many folks will be visiting this post too often at this point. If you are interested in more information, you can always submit a new post that will be further up the feed.