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Which Filaments are generally safe for contact with Food? What do you recommend?
(lemmy.blahaj.zone)
As one of my first ever self designed Prints and 3D Models, I wanna do a big organiser for my Kitchen! This is my current progress on that:
One of my friends gave me a word of caution to use the right filament when it comes to storing things like Sugar, Pepper, Salts and Tea Bags with Printed Plastics. So I wanted to ask if any of you have Good Safe Filament Recommendation for this type of thing? I heard PETG is supposedly safe, is that true? Thanks!
Practically speaking, 3D printed stuff is inherently unsafe even with "food safe" filament due to the spaces it allows for bacteria to grow, potential contaminants from the printer itself (like the nozzle), and the risk of microplastic contamination even if you can mitigate risks from the other two.
If you are worried about microplastics, I would also avoid using teabags entirely: Get loose leaf tea and brew it with a stainless steel capsule instead because unfortunately the teabags leach PTFE into your teas.
There are a few studies starting to show up about FDM food safety. Very preliminary results seems to indicate it's not as unsafe as everyone claims. After all, think about all those plastic cutting boards in daily use in commercial kitchens and homes across the world right now. How much bacteria gets hidden in all those cuts?
But the upshot is that more comprehensive studies do need to be done to determine just how safe or unsafe FDM printed food items are. It's still at the point of YMMV and proceed with caution as determined by your own risk tolerance.