[Deeptime]

What exactly are the specs for food grade containers used for storing honey?
Where I work, I get pet vitamin mixes in plastic buckets marked HDPE. The vitamins are inside a plastic bag that lines the 5 gal bucket. There is no chance of bleeding of odors/taste into the plastic bucket. These come from a food/feed grade distributor of vitamins and nutrient water treatments. Wiki says HDPE is used in milk jugs but I still don't know if they could be used for honey. Anybody know?:s

 

[D Coates]

I do not. I get all of my buckets from the local bakery for free. They use them for frosting (Brill?) and they are commercially food grade. I was curious when I was first getting them and looked for the differences (cavity mold, date stamp etc) between the bucket they sell at HD and the buckets I get from the bakery. Short of one being orange I found no differences but I didn't look at the chemically. Personally unless you find something definitive that indicates these are food grade I wouldn't use them.

 

[EastSideBuzz]

I went down to my cash and carry or restaurant supply and got the clear 5 gallon buckets with the quarts marked on the sides. They were like 20 bucks but, that is ok for filtering and pouring. Have not had to store much yet. Can't wait to have a storage problem.

I volunteer at the football stadium and they have plastic cooking oil jugs. I have brought a few home and cleaned them out so I can store it in those.

 

[fish_stix]

Look on the bottom of the bucket. If there's a triangle with a "2" in it and HDPE below the triangle they are food grade. I just looked at one of mine; we get them from a deli and they originally held pickles, relish, peppers, etc. Home Depot buckets have the same stamp!

 

[pbuhler]

My drywall buckets have the same stamp. Drywall compound is mostly gypsum (calcium sulfate) and calcium carbonate (innocuous). A good scrubbing, a sanitizing in a Clorox solution, and maintaining a clean (white) interior has allowed me to transport sap from the sugarbush comfortably. Anyone used these bucket for longer term storage of honey? Thanks. Paul

http://www.lafargecorp.com/wps/wcm/...f/Setting Type Drywall Compound MSDS 2011.pdf

 

[Brent]

Not all HDPE containers with a "2" in the triangle are food grade. If the bucket was used in the food industry you are fine. The release agent used in the molds is a factor in the use with foods.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5819448_do-tell-food-grade-plastic_.html

Brent

 

[pbuhler]

Thanks Brent. Paul