Food Grade Lubricants An Introduction to the Why and How
Introduction
Food grade lubricants represent only a small portion of total global lubricant consumption but are of paramount importance to those who need them. This article will try to shed some light on the questions of: a) what makes a lubricant food grade; b) when it should be used instead of a ‘standard’ lubricant; and c) which other questions should be asked to ensure safe food production. To preclude too many diversions by globally differing legislation, the situation will be exemplified based on the situation in the EU with references to United States legislation.
Legislative requirements of food producers While ‘food grade’ is an important phrase in the food production and lubricant industry, lawmakers as such do not use it. Current EU legislation regarding food production is intent on hygiene (see EU Regulation 852/2004 and the derived national regulations for European countries) and contains many instructions on how to plan production rooms, waste water disposal and other matters which try to rule out bacterial infection, etc.
The aforementioned EU regulation does contain one sentence which actually refers to something like a lubricant “Where chemical additives have to be used to prevent corrosion of equipment and containers, they are to be used in accordance with good practice.” (Annex II, Chapter V, No. 3; this refers to corrosion protection oils which will be discussed later on) but apart from this the only reference made is to “contamination” which is to be ruled out. The strategy for ruling out any unwanted influences is the much talked about ‘Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points’ concept (HACCP), the basic principles of which are described (amongst other noteworthy sources) in Art. 5 of Regulation 852/2004.
Step 1 is analysing the entire production process to seek out any risks which have to be eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level.
Step 2 is defining control points which are required to keep the defined risks at bay. One of these risks might be contamination of the produce with a lubricant and consequently the producer must try to reduce this risk (ideally to 0).
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LUBE MAGAZINE NO.130 DECEMBER 2015
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