Food safe Material

[JASPION3D]

Hello guys,

I'm wondering if any of you had already printed something to be used with food, like espresso cups, plates, food containers and etc?

If Yes,

What time of material did you used?

Did you used a totally separate hot-end?


Thanks

[curious aardvark]

Printed some custom sized sausage stuffer tubes.

Just used clear abs.

Long as you clean them properly after use they're fine.
Been using them for a couple of years as they were one of the first things I made and one of the reasons I wanted a 3d printer in the first place. If you've ever tried to get a roll of collagen over a nozzle that's just slightly too large, you'll understand.
And for some reason the people who make colllagen sausage casing and the people who make the sausage stuffer tubes have clearly never sat down and compared measurements.

If I were going to make some more, I'd probably use the purement antibacterial filament.
Not because I think it's necessary, but because I'm a fan of overkill in general :-)

Why would you use a different hot end ?
The plastic comes out at 185c - minimum.
That is hot enough to completely sterilise and then some.
Ain't no bacteria living in your hotend - that's a fact :-)

Extruded filament is about as sterile as you can get.

Just about the only thing that can survive that kind of temperature are Prions - and unless you're printing with brain or spinal cord matter - that's not going to be an issue :-)

[awerby]

They are going to be more or less sterile the first time you use them, but what about after that? The trouble with FFF prints is that there's a lot of surface irregularity that makes them nearly impossible to clean, and if you heat them back up to sterilization temperatures, all you've got is a puddle of plastic.

As for the Purement antibacterial filament, something that kills 99% of bacteria (even if it works) selects for the 1% that's immune. Just like with antibacterial soaps, I'm not sure that's really such a good idea.

[curious aardvark]

I think we'll have to agree to disagree.

Ive printed and used things for food.

And like everything you own, they have crevices that bacteria can live in. Even the smootheset looking plastic plate you own has millions of microscopic crevices bacteria can live in.

It's not an issue.
Wash stuff in antibacterial detergent and cook your food properly (99.9% of all food poisoning is down to incorrect cooking) and 3d printed stuff is every bit as safe as any other plastic item you own.

And as always, these are my personal opinions - if you manage to poison yourself - don't blame me, I didn't cook your food :-)

Oh yeah and don't eat green meat - it ain't the plate that'll kill you :-)