§ 03.3Products / Food-Grade
Food-grade means
segregation, not
a sticker.
Compliant resin is the easy part — almost every IBC bottle is made from FDA-compliant HDPE. What makes a tote genuinely food-grade is that nothing non-food ever touched it, that the wash water was never shared, and that the fill history is documented end to end. That requires a separate path through the building, which is what we built.
- Grade
- AA
- Resin
- 21 CFR 177.1520
- Wash circuit
- Fully separated
- Documentation
- Full pack per load
§ 03.3.1What food-grade actually requires
Four conditions. All four, or it isn't food-grade.
This is the part of the industry where loose language causes real problems. A supplier who satisfies three of these four and calls the result food-grade is selling you a compliance risk.
01
Compliant resin
The bottle must be moulded from HDPE meeting FDA 21 CFR 177.1520 for food contact. This is the condition almost everyone meets, and the one most often cited as if it were sufficient on its own.
02
Clean fill history
The bottle must be unused, or have held only food-contact products throughout its life. A single industrial fill permanently disqualifies a bottle from this path, regardless of how well it washed.
03
Segregated handling
Intake, storage, wash water, racking and staging must never share a path with non-food stock. Shared wash water alone is enough to void the claim.
04
Documented chain
Per-unit fill history, resin compliance reference, wash circuit record and a segregation attestation must travel with the load. Without the paperwork, the first three conditions are unverifiable.
- 2circuits
- Separate wash paths
- 0
- Shared racking positions
- 100%
- Units with documented history
- 185°F
- High-temperature wash cycle
Food-grade water never mixes with industrial.
Physically separated storage, not just labelled.
No unit enters this path without a declaration.
Dedicated food-grade sanitising programme.
§ 03.3.2The segregated path
Where food-grade stock goes that other stock cannot.
- 01
Dedicated intake lane
Food-grade candidates arrive with their fill declaration and are received at a separate dock position. No unit enters this path on a verbal assurance.
Declaration required before the truck is booked
- 02
Documentary screening
The declared fill history is checked against the bottle's moulding date and any residual evidence. An unexplained gap disqualifies the unit to the industrial path.
Unresolved history = industrial path, no exceptions
- 03
Separated storage
Screened units go to physically separated racking in a different bay, not to a labelled section of the main racking.
Separate bay, separate aisles
- 04
Dedicated wash circuit
The high-temperature sanitising programme runs on its own water, its own filtration and its own pumps. Nothing in the circuit has ever carried industrial residue.
185 °F, dedicated water
- 05
Test and assembly
Pressure and leak tested, fitted with new valves, gaskets and caps — new components only, never reclaimed fittings on this path.
New fittings only
- 06
Documentation pack and dispatch
Resin compliance reference, per-unit fill history, wash circuit record and segregation attestation are assembled and travel with the load.
Full pack per load
What disqualifies a unit from this path
- Any non-food fill anywhere in its declared history
- An undocumented gap in the fill history
- Residual odour or staining after the sanitising cycle
- A reclaimed valve, cap or gasket on the unit
- Arrival on a mixed trailer with industrial stock
- Any uncertainty at all — we default to the industrial path
- Typical stock
- New and rebottled bottles, plus food-only reconditioned
- Capacities
- 275 gal and 330 gal
- Valves
- New only — EPDM standard, Viton or silicone on request
- Lead time
- 5–12 business days
§ 03.3.3Honest limits
What our food-grade claim does not cover.
We supply a compliant container with a documented history. We do not — and no container supplier can — supply the following, and any supplier who implies otherwise is overselling:
- A certification of your filling process. Your HACCP plan, your sanitation validation and your own release testing remain yours.
- Sterility. A sanitising wash is not a sterilisation. If your product needs a sterile container, the container needs treating at your facility.
- Allergen clearance. If the declared food history includes an allergen relevant to your product, that is a risk only your QA team can assess. We will always give you the history so you can.
- Kosher or halal certification. We do not hold either. We will tell you the fill history and you can take it to your certifying body.
§ 03.3.4Food-grade, questioned
The questions QA teams ask us.
Can a tote that held an industrial chemical ever become food-grade again?
No. Not in our operation, and in our view not in anyone’s. HDPE permeates; a wash removes residue but cannot reliably remove what has absorbed into the wall. One industrial fill disqualifies a bottle from our food-grade path permanently.
Is a new bottle automatically food-grade?
The resin is compliant, but the unit is only food-grade if it was also handled on a segregated path and documented. A new bottle washed in shared industrial water is no longer a food-grade unit, which is exactly why the circuit separation matters.
What's in the documentation pack?
Resin compliance reference against 21 CFR 177.1520, per-unit fill history, the wash circuit record showing the dedicated programme, a segregation attestation, and the pressure and leak test record for each unit.
Will you sign our supplier quality agreement?
Usually, yes. Send it through the form on this page or the contact page and it reaches our QA lead. We read them properly and we flag clauses we cannot meet rather than signing and hoping.
Can I audit your facility?
Yes. Customer audits of the food-grade path are welcome by appointment, and several of our larger accounts audit annually. Bring your checklist.
Start with the product
Tell us what's going in, and we'll tell you which path it needs.
Flavour concentrate, edible oil, syrup, brine, dairy intermediate — each has a different answer, and some of them are cheaper than you expect.