Is 3D Printed Plastic Food Safe? What We Will and Will Not Print
· 2 min read
We get asked to print blender parts, cookie cutters, mixer paddles, and cutting board feet. Some of those we make happily. Some we turn down. Here is the line and why it sits where it does.
The short answer
We do not describe any 3D printed part as food safe, and we do not print parts for direct, repeated contact with food. That is not because the plastic is poison. PETG and PLA filaments are routinely made from resins with food contact approvals. It is because of how FDM printing works.
Three reasons printed parts are not food safe
- Layer lines. An FDM part is built from thousands of fused layers, and the microscopic grooves between them trap food and moisture that washing does not reliably remove. Prusa Research, one of the largest printer makers, states plainly on its own blog that no print is food safe without a surface coating for exactly this reason.
- The nozzle. Standard brass nozzles contain lead. Hardened steel nozzles avoid that, but the filament path through a printer is not a food grade environment.
- Regulation. The FDA regulates food contact substances, not finished printed articles, so a filament's resin approval does not transfer to the part we make from it. Nobody certifies a printed knob or scoop.
What we are glad to print for kitchens and appliances
- Knobs, dials, handles, and latches on stoves, ovens, fryers, mixers, and dispensers.
- Brackets, feet, clips, hinge parts, and housings.
- Rack rollers, drawer glides, shelf supports, and door parts on refrigerators and dishwashers.
- Guards, covers, and trim that do not touch the food.
- Blender base couplers and drive parts that sit below the jar and never contact what is in it.
What we decline
- Blades, paddles, scoops, cutting surfaces, and anything that touches food in use.
- Parts inside a cooking cavity or in direct flame.
- Baby bottle and infant feeding parts, without exception.
If you need a food contact part
Food contact parts are a job for injection molding in a certified resin, machining from a food grade stock, or, for a one off, resin printing in a specifically certified material followed by proper post curing and sealing. We are glad to point you toward the right process. For everything else on the appliance, send us the broken part.