Is there a marking on it to look for. The Home Depot pails are saying they are food grade online but also saying there white. In store there orange. Online I cannot find an orange pail to get a description. Hoping theres a marking to look for. I am in Canada so guessing it will be different then down south.
How do you know if a pail is food grade
- Thread starter Izzie1701
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There is a 3 part series on Basic Brewing podcast where they discuss food safety IRT brewing equipment with a toxicologist. In one of the episodes he discusses plastic buckets. Essentially, if the bucket is colored (orange home depot, grey/blue lowes, etc.) then it is probably made from recycled materials and best NOT use it for food contact, especially hot liquids. If the bucket is white it's probably made from virgin materials and is just fine for food and you can probably get away with hot liquids in there too. (They even mention using it as an electric brew kettle).
http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-radio-2013
Toxicologist episodes are on
Nov. 14, 2013
Dec 12, 2013
Feb 27, 2014
I don't remember in which episode they discuss buckets.
To answer your question, I do not believe their is typically a mark on the bucket that identifies food safe or not, just the type of plastic.
In my home depot and lowes the white food grade buckets are located in the painting section.
http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-radio-2013
Toxicologist episodes are on
Nov. 14, 2013
Dec 12, 2013
Feb 27, 2014
I don't remember in which episode they discuss buckets.
To answer your question, I do not believe their is typically a mark on the bucket that identifies food safe or not, just the type of plastic.
In my home depot and lowes the white food grade buckets are located in the painting section.
Look on the bottom of the pail for a triangle with a number in it. If it's made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET/PETE) the triangle will have a number "1" and if it's high density polyethylene (HDPE) it will have a number "2". Either of these are food grade. Any other number (ie 3-7) is not. IIRC the codes are the same in the US and Canada.
Both food grade white buckets and regular orange home depot buckets are HDPE. Referring back to the stuff I was talking about in post #2, despite all being HDPE not all are created equal.
(edit) looks like the white ones are PE.
Fair enough -- I wasn't clear in my post. Look for a marking with a "1" or "2" in a triangle. Those numbers indicate that the item in question is manufactured out of food grade plastic.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
If you do a search on "food grade bucket" here you will find a recent thread covering this in much detail... Plastics aside, the orange dye is not food safe rated... I know this because I researched the same orange plastic in my old locline sparge arm and forund only the black locline is rated as foodsafe.. not that it likely matters much in the real world but still I like to avoid possible long term issues.
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That's what I'm trying to say: 1 or 2 in a triangle does not necessarily equal food grade.
The gray lowes bucket I have in my hand here has a 2 in a triangle (hdpe), according to "Paul the toxicologist" it is best not to use in food applications. Paul claims to have a PhD in toxicology and have been practicing toxicology in the food industry for 10+ years. (We don't know "Paul the toxicologist" full name because he wanted to keep that private so as not to be interpreted as representing the company he works for during the podcast. He suggested that he's more tolerant of some things than his current employer might be.)
bucketnative
Well-Known Member
The international symbol for food safe or food contact materials is:
Sorry I should have said I did a search but everything seemed to be American. I know in Canada our marking systems are a little different and FDA is a lot stricter so thought maybe there was a way of telling up here. For example pressurized tanks CO2 must have a DOT (American) and TC (Canadian) stamp to be filled again here. If it just has a DOT they will not fill it as its not Canadian rated. If it just has a TC or it has both they will fill it.
bucketnative
Well-Known Member
This is not true. The "number in triangle" is a symbol that indicates the type of plastic for recycling purposes:
1 = PETE (polyester)
2 = HDPE (high-density polyethylene)
In fact, my food-grade buckets are made of "5" = PP (polypropylene) or "1" = HDPE, depending on where I got them.
I stand corrected.
"1" is PET. Although it's commonly used for food and liquids for consumption, it's not supposed to be re-used because of possible leaching of harmful elements in the plastic. So, I would not use this type of plastic for liquids, especially hot/warm ones, which I think would increase the rate/likelihood of leaching.
"2" is HDPE, which is food safe - free from BPA and any known carcinagen.
Orange Home Depot buckets are "2" HDPE.
White Lowes buckets are also "2" HDPE ( and are also marked "Food Safe, BPA Free").
Lowes has the matching white Gamma lids, which are very useful when combined with the white bucket above.
"2" is HDPE, which is food safe - free from BPA and any known carcinagen.
Orange Home Depot buckets are "2" HDPE.
White Lowes buckets are also "2" HDPE ( and are also marked "Food Safe, BPA Free").
Lowes has the matching white Gamma lids, which are very useful when combined with the white bucket above.
That's not to say that materials manufactured with HDPE and marked "2" are food safe...
Yea, I guess auddie's example above is a good one. I believe that HDPE is always foodsafe (I'm no chemist), but there might be things added to it that are considered harmful, like that orange color agent in the HD buckets.
My opinion is that any of it is fine for grain. It's liquids that would likely be a concern. And, if you're adding warm or hot liquids, I'd use nothing but #2 HDPE spedifically marked or marketed for food use, such as those Lowe's buckets I mentioned. In fact, that's what I do use. I'm not really too concerned about any of it, but it's so easy/cheap to get the right thing, why not
MaryB
Well-Known Member
For grain storage it doesn't matter, it isn't going to leach. For wet use white and listed food grade!
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
You'll very likely never notice a difference or problem.. Many people here use non food grade plastics. sometimes in things like like black plastic pond and solar pumps and blue and orange lock line. And unlike fermenters those are being used with High temps where leeching and the ill effects would be more likely to cause long term effects that if they occurred would unlikely every be tied to the cause anyway...
I use salt in both my reef aquarium and for my sidewalks in the winter and both types come in 6 gallon white foodgrade buckets so I obtained some buckets that way. Maybe try your local pet /aquarium store as they would have plenty of buckets to spare.
I used to work in the plastic industry (flexible not rigid) and I would not use anything that was not labeled as food grade. Plastic manufacturers are constantly recycling their own and others plastic for non food grade applications. I know that some of our non food grade bags that had recycled content in them had various chemical additives specific for automotive and electronics companies and I sure as hell wouldn't want to be ingesting them.
philjohnwilliams
Well-Known Member
These white buckets are the food grade ones from HD https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.19l5-gallon---white-food-approved-bucket.1000784675.html. Unlike the orange ones that are placed all over the store, these are pretty much always in the painting section. Set the store location on the linked page to your local HD and it should be able to tell you store inventory and location in the store.
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