Thread: Dining table Finishes suitable for food contact?

Mineral Oil can be considered the very most Food Safe substance in existence. It will never break down nor go off. One simply needs to clean it occasionally and reapply as its depleted. This is how cutting boards work.

On more permanent finishes, polyurethane is excellent. Many recoil at it, but once cured its as close to perfect as one can get.

Next along is acid-catalysed lacquers which are rather specialised. These are hard and tough beyond all belief. A professional would spray this for you. Its not a DIY substance.

If you wish for something more "traditional" there is shellac (amazing and repairable, but a longish process to apply) and nitrocellulose, which may be sprayed on and will perform very similarly to polyurethane.

One of my favourite finishes of all time is Livos Kunos. This stuff is incredible. Silky feel, dead easy to apply, food safe, resists grot, easily cleaned, doesn't look plasticy and repairable.

Pretty well anything sold in hardware stores as a timber finish is safe so unless you are rummaging around in grandpas shed looking for a finish you should be OK.

BoBL I'm quite partial to those older tins of green tinted uranium powdered lead based arsenic finishes.

The timber under those lasts FOREVER!

Hard Shellac.... Food safe, tough as ya melamine bench tops, high resistance to water, alcohol, heat, and children.

• Can be brushed on (with a good brush).
• Polished as in French (if you have the ability)
• Needs a little practice at application if never used before (scrap pieces of timber will do for this)
  
• Can be full gloss
• Can be knocked back with Tripoli Powder or fine steel wool etc to a satin, egg ehell or flat finish
• Can be buffed to a piano finish with EEE-Ultra Shine.

Sorry for the blatant plug of products.

Cheers - Neil

I recently purchased a ukulele with a nitro-cellulose finish and it came with a health warning ,confusing .

Originally Posted by mature one

I recently purchased a ukulele with a nitro-cellulose finish and it came with a health warning ,confusing .

Probably read the health warning on MSDS (Material Safety data Sheet) or the can, about fumes etc and thought it applied to the dry finish. Like most solid surface finishes it should be quite safe when dry. Unless you scrape it off and eat it,.... but even then????

Then again it could have been made in California where almost everything has a carcinogenic or other health warning on it.

Food safe is a fallacy and pushed by manufacturers and retailers to make you buy their products.
There are 3 products i would not use on timber,
1. Anything containing led, probably hard to find these days.
2. Vegetable oil, it does not form a hard barrier under the surface.
3. Sump oil, for obvious reasons.

I saw an Australian made product in a local timber supplier that had all the crap about food safe on the label, but it also had written very clearly on the label "this is not a salad dressing"............... some people ay

Originally Posted by double.d

Food safe is a fallacy and pushed by manufacturers and retailers to make you buy their products.

Have to agree to a certain point. Not really all that important when it comes to tables etc, (unless you have kids who'll eat off almost any surface) but for chopping boards and and items that are used for food and toys etc it is a bit more important.

There are 3 products i would not use on timber,
1. Anything containing led, probably hard to find these days.

Whole heartedly agree., You're dead right rhere.
However I believe you can still buy lead driers which have been touted for years as an additive for linseed oil finishing. Which plenty of backyarders have made and probably still do.
I don't think that Boiled Linseed Oil still contains lead driers but with some of the things coming in from dodgy countries, who knows.

2. Vegetable oil, it does not form a hard barrier under the surface.

Not only do vegetable oils not form a hard barrier, but for food they can be downright deadly, especially any that have any nut content. Many most can also go rancid and cause intestinal problems and in the worst case scenario even death. Pretty unlikely these days, but you may be wishing, nay, praying for death to came and save you.

3. Sump oil, for obvious reasons.

Yeah well that's a given, unless you're an old time mechanic, many of whom probably ate their lunch off sump oil stained benches tops. Seen many a sump oil impregnated table/bench kicking around old farms and work-sheds. Even restored a few over the years. Easiest way.... Pull the table top off and give it a new one. Old timers fix. Nail; some linoleum to it.

As for other finishes: Be careful what you put into the dishwasher. I was told years ago by the "Head Chemist", of a leading Australian Paint/Finishes Manufacturer that food implements finished with Polyurethane and washed in a dishwasher can become toxic due to chemical reactions.

The below is my personal blurb about the crap not in our Food Safe Plus Oil
You wouldn't pour eucalyptus oil, camphor oil, lemon essence or hand cream on your toast in the morning so why let it permeate the board you may butter your toast on.

This oil is ideal for vegans as it does not contain any animal products or biproducts. For people with nut allergies it does not contain any nut products or oils. It will not go rancid like many vegetable oils and does not contain lead driers, wax, polyurethane, tung oil or any other unnecessary additives as many others oils do.

Good write up there ubeaut.

Another important factor is letting whatever product you apply to a surface cure properly. My advice is if it has been applied for 1-2 weeks and you can't smell it then it should be right to go.

Originally Posted by ubeaut

Not only do vegetable oils not form a hard barrier, but for food they can be downright deadly, especially any that have any nut content. Many most can also go rancid and cause intestinal problems and in the worst case scenario even death. Pretty unlikely these days, but you may be wishing, nay, praying for death to came and save you.

I was for many years of the same opinion, but recently have started to really doubt this is a problem, especially compared to other factors..

One of my initial reasons for doubting this is that Southern Mediterraneans (who have amongst the greatest longevity on the planet) have for centuries been wiping their chopping boards with olive oil, and if they were not doing so deliberately used so much oil they did it by accident, eg cutting and chopping things that came into contact with various oils on wooden boards.

Last year I did several searches of the National Institute of Health (NIH) data base for medical literature for "rancid vegetable oil" and found nothing. If it was a problem it would be there.

In contrast to the zero entries for "rancid vegetable oil on cutting boards", the NIH has hundreds of references to the dangers of "bacteria on cutting boards". This problem increases on inert finished (eg plastic, painted etc) surfaces that are far more likely to cause problems than rancid oil on wooden boards.

Even more interesting is that bacteriologically it better that vegetable oil does not form a hard surface because raw wood is naturally antibiotic. Of course it depends on how smooth the surfaces are - if large amounts of food or dirt are trapped in cracks it can still cause problems. Based on this I'd say real health risks comes down to how effectively surfaces are kept clean rather than what sort of finish is applied.

Originally Posted by BobL

I was for many years of the same opinion, but recently have started to really doubt this is a problem, especially compared to other factors..

One of my initial reasons for doubting this is that Southern Mediterraneans (who have amongst the greatest longevity on the planet) have for centuries been wiping their chopping boards with olive oil, and if they were not doing so deliberately used so much oil they did it by accident, eg cutting and chopping things that came into contact with various oils on wooden boards.

Last year I did several searches of the National Institute of Health (NIH) data base for medical literature for "rancid vegetable oil" and found nothing. If it was a problem it would be there.

In contrast to the zero entries for "rancid vegetable oil on cutting boards", the NIH has hundreds of references to the dangers of "bacteria on cutting boards". This problem increases on inert finished (eg plastic, painted etc) surfaces that are far more likely to cause problems than rancid oil on wooden boards.

Even more interesting is that bacteriologically it better that vegetable oil does not form a hard surface because raw wood is naturally antibiotic. Of course it depends on how smooth the surfaces are - if large amounts of food or dirt are trapped in cracks it can still cause problems. Based on this I'd say real health risks comes down to how effectively surfaces are kept clean rather than what sort of finish is applied.

I've had many a vegetable oil go rancid in the cupboard. Not sure about Olive Oil, my understanding is it too has a use by date once opened, most don't last that long to worry about.

Used to be a real issue on BBQ's causing people to get sick, from those that cleaned the BBQ after use but then left it with an oil coating. I always clean mine just before use and also get very hot before starting cooking.

I don't worry about finding reports, I follow my nose, it's gross when rancid

Originally Posted by dai sensei

I've had many a vegetable oil go rancid in the cupboard. Not sure about Olive Oil, my understanding is it too has a use by date once opened, most don't last that long to worry about.

I agree that vegetable oil can go rancid. The contents of my deceased MIL pantry was one example. Another was when I used to use canola on the chainsaw mill and bought it in 4L containers from Coles and would chuck it into a 20L drum and that would go off over about 12 months. Apart from the slight smell (I could just smell it) it ended up all over everything and produce a tough coat on the mill that was almost impossible to get off except if I left the chainsaw mill out of the shed the dogs would lay there and lick it clean. Don't recall them getting sick but I do know they can eat rotten stuff and it doesn't worry them.

Used to be a real issue on BBQ's causing people to get sick, from those that cleaned the BBQ after use but then left it with an oil coating. I always clean mine just before use and also get very hot before starting cooking.

I reckon that'll be more likely a failure to clean properly and then breeding bacteria rather than rancid oil.
When we used to use a BBQ I rarely cleaned it, just used to get it hot and scrape it down.
Anyway there'll be a fair bit of a difference between a thin dry coating on wood and actual cooking stuff in rancid oil.

My nose is "poor" . so as far as health related things are concerned I tend to trust peer reviewed evidence as opposed to what is said on "the internet"

With cutting boards, is/was it traditional to scrub them with sand?

I ask as I seem to remember from some medieval books that this may have been done for platters and bowls.

Olive oil is technically fruit juice, it will last 2 years before it goes rancid and then probably the most thing that is wrong with it is the taste goes off so if you are going to store your cutting board for two years then it may be a slight problem.