Everything You Need To Know About Food Grade Lubricants
Chain Guard Food Grade Lubricants
High Performance Synthetic Food Grade Lubricant, Grease, and Aerosol Spray
The world of industrial lubricants can be a complex one. With so many types of lubricants, all with different functions, it can be hard to determine which industrial lubricant to use. We have created this article to help you choose which lubricant will work best for your food processing facility. Below are our answers to some frequently asked questions about food-grade lubricants.
What is Food-Grade Lubricant?
Food-grade lubricant is a non-hazardous industrial product that must be used in food processing facilities to ensure operators and consumers remain safe in the event of accidental lubricant contamination.
Why Should I Use Food-Grade Lubricant?
Food-grade lubricant plays a significant role in preventing costly contamination caused by spillage in food processing facilities.? If contamination remains below allowable thresholds, food products affected by contamination or spillage remain safe to consume if food-grade lubricant is used. This reduces the risk of having an expensive recall. In the case of lubricant contamination where a food processing facility chooses not to use food-grade lubricant, the company will have to recall the product due to the risks the contamination will have on consumers' health. These recalls are expensive, time-consuming and damage the brand reputation of the company.?
Do My Products Require the Use of Food Grade Lubricant?
If you manufacture any products in the categories below the answer is 100% YES!?The National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) states that food-grade lubricant should be used in the production of medicines and all food and beverage products, including pet food and animal feed.?
Products that Require Food-Grade Lubricants Are:
What is the Difference Between H1, H2 and H3 Food-Grade Lubricants? Which One Should I Use?
At Chain Guard, we strongly encourage the use of H1.? We are motivated to provide only H1 Food Grade Lubricants because they are the safest for consumers.??Click here? to read more about our vision and why we hope you'll care about using H1 lubricants too.? However, if you are unsure what the differences are between these types of lubricant, grease or oils or need more information to be convinced that using an H1 is the right choice for you, keep reading.
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What is an H3 Lubricant?
H3 lubricants can be thought of as edible oils, like sunflower oil for example. They are most often applied on trolleys, hooks or other facility equipment.?The main purpose of H3 lubricants is to prevent rust from developing on equipment. Although H3 lubricants can be consumed in the case of actual lubricant contamination, if you are looking for a lubricant to help improve machine function or keep your oven chains moving, H3 lubricants are not overly reliable. In the event of contamination below allowable thresholds using an H3 product, the food product may be considered safe for the end user, but the taste, color or smell of the product might be affected.
What is an H2 Lubricant?
An NSF-certified H2 lubricant does not contain elements such as mutagens, teratogens, carcinogens, or mineral acids. H2 lubricants also do not contain heavy metals, like mercury or selenium for instance.?H2 lubricants have to follow very strict rules regarding toxicology.? Toxicology involves the nature, effects and detection of poisons.?H2 lubricants cannot contain the elements mentioned above because, in case of accidental consumption, these harmful elements can result in illness.?Since H2 lubricants do not contain these harmful elements, they are considered to be food-grade. However, they are not safe in case of lubricant contamination.?Although the H2 lubricants do not contain poisonous ingredients, they still contain ingredients that are harmful to consumers if contaminated with the food, beverage or cosmetic product.?
What is an H1 Lubricant?
An NSF-certified H1 lubricant is considered the safest of all lubricating products offered on the market.?As such they are used on equipment where accidental lubricant contamination may occur. H1 lubricants are odorless, and tasteless and?are acceptable for accidental contamination with a food product of up to 10 parts per million.?When you hear someone in the industry referring to "food grade lubricant", they are most often referring to an H1 registered lubricating product as these H1 lubricants are considered to be the only lubricants that can keep consumers truly safe in the event of contamination within allowable thresholds. H1 lubricants are most often applied to oven chains, conveyor belt systems, pumps, mixers, gears, hydraulics, and much more.?
How Will Using H1 Food Grade Lubricant Help My Business?
By choosing to use an H1 lubricant, you can help keep your business and customers safer in the event of an accidental lubricant contamination.?If an H1 lubricant gets contaminated with your food, beverage or cosmetic product under 10 parts per million, you will not have to recall the batch of contaminated product.?Whereas H1 is not harmful if consumed accidentally, if contaminated with your products, and remains under the allowable threshold, a recall can be avoided.?By using H1 lubricants you can potentially save your company from wasting an enormous amount of money on possibly avoidable product recalls.?Managing a product recall puts a strain on resources, requires legal counsel, upsets customers and causes unwanted bad publicity about your brand.?This could potentially lead consumers to switch brands, both consciously or subconsciously due to the negative exposure.?
How Likely Is a Lubricant Contamination Going to Happen?
It's easy to read about the risks of lubricant contamination without actually visualizing it happening in your food processing facility. It's the typical "it won't happen to me" scenario until it DOES happen to you.?Don't wait until a contamination happens to switch to food grade. Be proactive and stop harmful contamination before it happens!?With the amount of air that is constantly being circulated in oven chambers, lubricant contamination can happen.?Some companies may not even realize that their lubricant contaminating their product!?There have been many recalls due to lubricant contamination in the past.?Most of these companies have switched to H1 food-grade lubricant after the result of harmful lubricant contamination.?Here are some real-life examples of expensive and time-consuming recalls that have occurred in the past.?We have excluded the names of these companies for confidential reasons.
Want to read more? Check out this article in more detail here .