Are Food Grade Lubricants Needed for Fork Lift Truck?

Hi All,

Just looking for some advice. Has anyone heard of a food grade lubricant for equipment in the ISO 22 K ? We are a food storage warehouse and we use forklift to pick ans carry out food product. Does the lubricant in the forklift needs to be food grade ?

Elan

If the risk of lubricant from the forklift coming into contact with product is low then I would say food approved lubricant is not necessary.

To decide this you will need to carry out a risk assessment and ask yourself - are forklifts well maintained and free from excessive lubricant spilling out? Do engineers lubricate forklifts away from exposed food areas? Is product exposed or covered when the forklift picks it up? These are just some of the questions you need to ask.

There was some discussion about forklift trucks in food areas here: Fuel, LPG or Electric driven forklifts

Anyone else care to comment.

Simon

We are a canola oil packaging and margarine/shortening production facility. Our HACCP program is administered by the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) and as such all chemicals (including lubricants) must be approved for use in a food production environment. This applies to lubricants used in our receiving (ingredients. packaging) and shipping (finished goods) warehouses.

The following link outlines all chemicals approved for use in a food plant by the CFIA. If your concern is inadvertent contact with the food, there is a sub-category for incidental food contact.

CFIA Approved Chemicals and Lubricants

In any case, it only benefits your system to be using chemicals and lubricants that are approved for use in a food production/storage environment. Your country, or HACCP regulatory body may have such a list.

Phil

We are a canola oil packaging and margarine/shortening production facility. Our HACCP program is administered by the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) and as such all chemicals (including lubricants) must be approved for use in a food production environment. This applies to lubricants used in our receiving (ingredients. packaging) and shipping (finished goods) warehouses.

The following link outlines all chemicals approved for use in a food plant by the CFIA. If your concern is inadvertent contact with the food, there is a sub-category for incidental food contact.

CFIA Approved Chemicals and Lubricants

In any case, it only benefits your system to be using chemicals and lubricants that are approved for use in a food production/storage environment. Your country, or HACCP regulatory body may have such a list.

Phil

Thanks for that Phillip, it just shows the difference from country to country. I am very sure there is no legal requirement to use food grade lubricants in the UK. So like you say Elan should refer to own country regulatory body. Thinking about this some more, if there is an equivalent food grade lubricant for every lubricant used within a factory, and the price isn't too much greater, then why not have it regardless of risk. It is a lot easier to manage this way.

Thanks for your input.

Regards,
Simon

What we have also found is that during audits (AIB, FPA-SAFE) it simplifies the process because there is no need to justify having a chemical that is not approved for use in a food plant.

Dear Phil,

Very interesting item.
This is clearly a highly pragmatic approach although I was a bit dubious over the basic concept since it seems to hinder the general distribution of knowledge plus it may give problems at export destination, eg –

“Q10. Does the CFIA maintain a public listing of ingredients/components which are permitted to be present in non-food chemical products used in federally registered food establishments?
A10. No. Each formulated product’s list of ingredients/components is evaluated on an individual basis according to its intended use. Only a list of accepted formulated products is maintained by the CFIA.”

However this reservation seems to be offset by the CFIA general labelling requirement for non-food chemicals–

“Q11. What information is required to be included on the label of non-food chemical products? A11. Every label shall show the following basic information:
Name and address of manufacturing or distributing firm. The address may be that of the head office of the firm;
Descriptive name of the product. This is required to be displayed prominently and immediately adjacent to the brand name, to denote the function. A statement on the specific intended use in food establishments must also be included;
A list of all major ingredients. Should there be a list of active ingredients on the label and major ingredients of product are considered to be non-active, a second list with these major ingredients should be included on the label;
Direction for use in a food plant, to include any precautionary statements necessary to avoid contamination of food such as "Rinse with potable water", including all necessary information to achieve its technical effect;
A net content statement;
Where applicable, the words "Product of...." indicating the country of origin. This statement shall be placed below the descriptive name of the product.

Q12. Which non-food chemical products require a label?

A12. The following non-food chemical products are required to be labelled: barrier creams, cleaners, decharacterizing agents, denaturing agents, deodorizers, disinfectants, egg treatment compounds, inks, lubricants, maintenance aid products, microbial control agents, pesticides, processing aids, refrigerants/heat exchanger agents, release agents, sanitizers and water treatment compounds.”

I presume approval of the label is part of the requirement for a product to be approved in the first place
I believe (?) this requirement is unusually comprehensive (and to be applauded!) unless the word “ingredient” is allowed to be interpreted in a generic fashion, eg "contains an approved colouring”.

BTW, I noticed that “Packaging Materials / Coatings / Adhesives do not seem to appear in the A12 list (unless classified as a processing aid [unlikely I think]) although there are hundreds in the database ?

Rgds / Charles.C

Dear elan,
For the lubricants, I think if the machine in contact with the food directly (Food Contact service) it must be a  food grade lubricant. But if you use the forklift for lifting a packaging food with out any contact of the food itself, it would not be a hazard to use a normal lubricants.
M NEGM

Dear elan,
For the lubricants, I think if the machine in contact with the food directly (Food Contact service) it must be a  food grade lubricant. But if you use the forklift for lifting a packaging food with out any contact of the food itself, it would not be a hazard to use a normal lubricants.
M NEGM

I absolutely agree with your concept. However, we are adding one restriction: if any lubricant used is applied by spay (like from an aerosol container), in the same area, than there is a real danger that mist of lubricant will get in contact with the food, therefore in this case a food grade lubricant is a must.
moshes

I absolutely agree with your concept. However, we are adding one restriction: if any lubricant used is applied by spay (like from an aerosol container), in the same area, than there is a real danger that mist of lubricant will get in contact with the food, therefore in this case a food grade lubricant is a must.
moshes

Thanks Guys for all the input.

I am now talking to my supplier to ensure this is being taken care of.