How ProSoft FoodSAFE® PUL was Certified as Food Safe for Storage of Foods
The Food safe version of ProSoft® PUL, now rebranded as ProSoft FoodSAFE® PUL, meets the requirements of 21 CFR 175.300 and “may be safely used as the food-contact surface of articles intended for use in producing, manufacturing, packing, processing, preparing, treating, packaging, transporting, or holding food.”
It has also been tested as per the test methods listed in 21 CFR 175.300 for repeated use storage of food items. We did not have a container/package design for testing, and we wanted to see what types of food it would be safe for. So the entire fabric was selected for testing, and the test parameters were chosen to represent all food types and the most severe temperature/time conditions in the method. Tests were performed in the USA at an FDA approved laboratory.
ProSoft PUL was tested under the worst case conditions for all types of food and beverages (except it was not tested for Alcoholic beverages). This covers pretty much everything under the sun. Every food will fall into one of the categories below.
A. Types of Food that can be used with ProSoft FoodSAFE PUL:
1. Acidic (pH 5.0 or below) or Non acidic (pH above 5.0) or aqueous products; containing salt or sugar or both; containing free oil or fat; including water-in-oil emulsions and oil-in-water emulsions of low- or high-fat content.
2 - Dairy products and all modifications.
3. Fats and oils.
4. Nonalcoholic Beverages
5. Bakery products.
6. Dry solids.
This covers all types of food and beverages excluding alcohol, which was not tested for.
B. Conditions of storage under which ProSoft FoodSAFE PUL can be used:
Testing was done using the severest time/temp exaggerations in the fabric itself. Food can be placed in the fabric at any temperature - hot, room temperature, cold, or frozen. For containers, pouches or bags made from the fabric the food item can be:
1. Filled in the container and heat-sterilized at high temperature (e.g., over 212 deg. F) in the container
2. Filled in container and sterilized by boiling water
3. Hot filled or pasteurized above 150 deg. F in the container
4. Hot filled or pasteurized below 150 deg. F in the container
5. Filled at room temperature and stored (no thermal treatment in the container)
6. Filled and stored in Refrigerated storage (no thermal treatment in the container)
7. Stored in Frozen storage (no thermal treatment in the container)
8. Frozen storage: Ready-prepared foods intended to be reheated in container at time of use:
1. Aqueous or oil in water emulsion of high or low fat
2. Aqueous, high or low free oil or fat
The PUL passed all the test parameters under the severest conditions of temperature and time for repeated use processing, packing and storage for all types of food making it an ideal choice for using in food processing and storage applications.
Some typical uses could be: Lining food counters, food conveyor belts, baked goods shelves, pastry cloth, rolling out dough, steaming rice, food bag liners, beverage pouches, sauce bags, food storage bags, produce storage, freezer bags, unpaper plates (esp. knowing that paper plates may be laced with PFAS), pizza box liners, table mats, table cloths, transferring hot baked goods, soup bags, grocery bags etc.