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3 Best Metal for Cooking Food

food processor metals

In today’s life, Metals play a dominant role in our world. Some metals are frequently used in food process-related industries. These are metals also known as Food grade metals. Food grade metals are metals that naturally are safe to use when preparing/process food. Such Materials need to be secure, long-lasting, lead-free, corrosion-resistant, non-absorptive, and washable. Also, they are smooth finish, easy to clean, reusable with resistant for scratch, dent, crack. These factors make materials suitable for food-grade metals. Every manufacturer related to the food industry must strictly follow the above requirements. All these requirements are guidelines by the FDA for food processing. They draw up restrictions on which metal can be used, and how, so it is important to be very careful when selecting food-grade metals for product/process. Markets are now a treasure trove of cutting-edge kitchen appliances and chef supplies near me.

For more detail wise information, we have discussed some types of food-grade metals that are mostly used to fabricate food processing equipment.

Stainless Steel

This is the most familiar metal in food process services, because of its factors such as durability, affordable, corrosion-resistant, reusable and easy to clean. Stainless steel comes along with different formations, making it difficult to understand the ideal metal. Most steels are made by iron and carbon, but Stainless Steel is a combination of iron and chromium which is resistant to corrosion as well rust. Stainless steel alloys are multipurpose metals that are most frequently used in food process equipment.

Some grades of Stainless Steel are specially used as Food grade metals such as Stainless Steel 304, 316, and 430.

As a food-grade metal, Stainless Steel 304 is extremely useful because of corrosion-resistant, glossy, easy to clean. But it is susceptible to some immoderate exposure to salt.

Stainless Steel 316 is the second familiar type of food-grade metal. It is an austenitic alloy with elevated chromium and nickel proportion. Grade 316 alloy makes perfect food-grade metal which in fact has superior resistance to acids, alkalis, and salts. Stainless steel 316 grade is used to make prominent food-grade stainless steel equipment for any food processing.

Stainless steel 430 food-grade metal is nearly close to Stainless steel 316. It has a similar chromium proportion, but very small content of nickel, which makes it a highly affordable substitute for the food industry. It is a ferritic alloy, which means magnetic in nature. SS 430 also offers an exceptional resistance to stress corrosion cracking, because of the small amount of nickel proportion, SS 430 is less resistant in some dilute reducing acids as compared to SS 316.

Aluminum

After Stainless steel, aluminum is a prominent metal in the food industry. Aluminum is familiarly used in the food process industry because it is safe and non-toxic. Aluminum offers superior key features like high-temperature resistance, durability, lightweight, high electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance and affordable. There are some grade of aluminum which are used as food-grade materials, such as;

Aluminum 1100, which commonly pure, corrosion resistance, exceptionally workable metal. Because of these factors, 1100 most often used in food process industries. Aluminum 3003 is almost universally used in aluminum alloy. With added manganese, it is more durable than Aluminum 1100. Aluminum 3004 is one of the heavy-duty aluminium alloys used in food process equipment. Aluminum 5052, which has high toughness compared to other aluminum alloys and also outstanding corrosion-resistant to water.

Copper

Copper has minimal use in the food processing industry because of its sensitivity to acids it rusts easily. It is susceptible to some kind of foods such as wine, fruit juice, vinegar, etc. Commonly, Copper has a risk of corrosion to anything more acidic than milk. So it’s not specifically used in large scale applications.

While choosing the finest food grade metal for food process industries, a proper understanding of a particular application is needed. Without proper knowledge of the specific chemicals, temperatures, and processes involved in your food manufacturing application, it becomes impossible to choose a suitable food-safe metal.

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