Food
grade.
Name your product in the message field. We match prior contents deliberately — syrup to syrup, brine to brine.
Food grade requires all three of: edible prior contents proven from the unit's own data plate, a documented hot caustic CIP cycle with logged data, and a passed air-hold pressure test. Two out of three is a Grade A industrial tote. There is no partial credit and no exception for units that look clean.
The three requirements, in order of importance
1. Provenance
Before a trailer is unloaded, a grader photographs each data plate and logs the prior contents against the serial number. Eligible prior contents are edible products only: syrups, juice and juice concentrate, liquid sugar, vegetable and olive oil, vinegar, brine, molasses, glycerin, food-grade flavourings and potable water.
Permanent exclusions, applied without exception: missing, illegible or painted-over data plate; any non-edible prior content; any unlabelled unit; any unit whose plate indicates a UN hazard class; any unit with an unexplained interior odour at intake.
2. Documented wash
Four stages: ambient pre-rinse, hot caustic recirculation at 160–180 °F with 1.5–2.5% sodium hydroxide, potable rinse to a measured neutral pH, sanitising rinse. Cycle ID, date, operator, peak temperature, caustic concentration, dwell time and final discharge pH are logged per unit and printed on the certificate. The wash line page details the cycle by residue class.
3. Pressure test
Air-hold at 3 psi with a timed hold, after the wash and after the new gasket is fitted. Result and duration go on the certificate.
What ships with the unit
- Prior-contents record tied to the serial number
- CIP wash certificate with full cycle data
- Air-hold pressure test result
- Data plate photographs, wide and detail
- New gasket, new cap, inspected or replaced valve
This is the document set a food-safety auditor asks for. “It was washed” is not a document set.
What food grade explicitly does not mean
It is not an NSF listing — no reconditioned container carries one. It is not sterility; if your process needs sterile, you sterilise on site. It is not a guarantee of zero flavour transfer. And it is not a judgement about your specific application, which we cannot make without knowing it.
If you need a container with no fill history at all, that is rebottled, and it is roughly $100 more per unit.
Specification
| Requirement | Standard |
|---|---|
| Prior contents | Edible only, documented |
| Data plate | Legible and transcribed — mandatory |
| Wash | 4-stage hot caustic CIP |
| Caustic | 1.5 – 2.5% NaOH |
| Temperature | 160 – 180 °F |
| Final rinse | Potable, to measured neutral pH |
| Pressure test | 3 psi timed air hold |
| Gasket | New EPDM |
| Cosmetic | Staining and scuffing accepted |
| 275 gal band | $225 – $340 |
| 330 gal band | $265 – $395 |
Eligible prior contents
Corn and HFCS syrups · fruit juice and concentrate · liquid sugar · vegetable and olive oil · vinegar · brine · molasses · glycerin · food-grade flavourings · potable water
Permanent exclusionsNo plate · illegible plate · any non-edible content · unlabelled · UN hazard class · unexplained interior odour
Food grade questions
Can a tote that held a non-food product ever become food grade?
No. This is the hardest rule we have and we have never made an exception. HDPE absorbs and slowly releases what it stores; a washed detergent tote is a clean detergent tote. If you need a food-grade vessel and the only bottles available have a non-food history, the answer is rebottling — a new virgin bladder in a reclaimed cage.
What if the data plate is missing?
Then the unit is technical grade, permanently, however clean it looks. Provenance is not an inference — it is a document. A tote with no plate could have held anything, and 'it smells like syrup' is not a food-safety control.
Is a food grade tote safe for drinking water?
In our judgement yes, and it is the most common use. But your certifying authority — a state health department, an insurer, a municipal water board — may require a container that has only ever held water. If you are in that position, do not argue the point: buy rebottled and remove the question entirely.
Do you guarantee no flavour or odour carry-over?
No, and nobody honestly can. A vinegar tote may carry a faint acetic note; a strongly flavoured concentrate may ghost. It does not matter in a brine and it matters enormously in a delicate juice. Tell us your product and we will match the prior contents on purpose — syrup to syrup, brine to brine — which is the only real control available.
Every requirement, with the measurement
| Requirement | Standard | How it is verified | Recorded? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prior contents | Edible products only | Read from the unit's own data plate at intake, before unloading | Yes — tied to the serial |
| Data plate | Legible and transcribed | Photographed wide and detail | Yes |
| Pre-rinse | Ambient, bulk residue displaced | Operator log | Yes |
| Caustic concentration | 1.5 – 2.5% NaOH | Titration against the charge | Yes — on the certificate |
| Peak temperature | 160 – 180 °F | In-line probe | Yes — on the certificate |
| Caustic dwell | 12 – 40 min by residue class | Cycle timer | Yes — on the certificate |
| Final rinse | Potable water to neutral pH | Calibrated meter on the discharge | Yes — on the certificate |
| Sanitising rinse | Final rinse, inverted drain, warm-air dwell | Operator log | Yes |
| Gasket | New EPDM | Fitted before testing | Yes |
| Pressure test | 3 psi timed air hold, after wash and gasket | Test rig printout | Yes — result and duration |
| Cosmetic condition | Staining and scuffing accepted | — | Disclosed |
Permanent exclusions
- Missing, illegible or painted-over data plate.
- Any non-edible prior content, however thoroughly washed.
- Any unlabelled unit, however clean the bottle looks.
- Any unit whose plate indicates a UN hazard class.
- Any unit with an unexplained interior odour at intake.
- Any unit with stress crazing at a lower corner — regardless of provenance.
What qualifies, and what it suits next
| Prior content | Cycle | Best next use | Caution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corn syrup / HFCS | Single hot-water pass | Sugar solutions, maple sap, syrups, brewing adjunct | The most versatile history available |
| Fruit juice concentrate | Hot caustic | Juice, cider, beverage base | Dye staining is permanent; cosmetic only |
| Liquid sugar | Single pass | Confectionery, brewing, fermentation | — |
| Brine / salt solution | Cold rinse largely sufficient | Pickling, curing, cheese brine, olives | Rinse the valve thoroughly; salt sits in the seat |
| Vinegar | Single pass | Pickling, sauces, dressing base | Faint acetic note possible in delicate products |
| Vegetable / olive oil | Long caustic plus surfactant | Oil, fat, oleoresin | Hardest residue to fully clear |
| Molasses | Hot caustic | Feed, baking, distilling | Dark staining |
| Glycerin | Single pass | Food and cosmetic glycerin | — |
| Potable water | Single pass | Anything | The cleanest history available |
| Liquid egg | Hot caustic, protein cycle | Egg, dairy-adjacent | Protein residue needs the full caustic dwell |
| Fruit purée and pulp | Hot caustic plus mechanical | Purée, concentrate | Solids need the pre-rinse to work properly |
Matching deliberately costs us nothing and avoids an argument about a scent ghost later. Ask for it: syrup to syrup, brine to brine, oil to oil. Cross-pairing works and occasionally carries a ghost, which does not matter in a brine and matters enormously in a delicate juice.
What food grade explicitly does not mean
Not an NSF listing
No reconditioned container carries one, from anybody. NSF listings apply to products as manufactured. A supplier offering you an NSF-listed used tote is either confused or selling you a feeling.
Not sterile
If your process needs sterility, you sterilise on site. We supply a clean, documented vessel to start from — which is a different and more honest claim.
Not a zero-transfer guarantee
A vinegar tote may carry a faint acetic note; a strongly flavoured concentrate may ghost. Irrelevant in a brine, significant in a delicate juice. Prior-content matching is the only real control.
Not a judgement about your application
We cannot make one without knowing it. Disclose unusual chemistry, pressure, temperature or regulatory status and we will tell you whether a reclaimed vessel is appropriate at all.
Not FDA approval
The resin is an FDA-compliant HDPE, which is a property of the material and true of every poly IBC we sell including the cheapest technical unit. Food grade is our provenance-and-process standard on top of that.
Not valid after you fill it
The documentation describes a point in time. One fill of your product and the relevant provenance is now yours to document, not ours.
The honest alternative, when provenance is unavailable
Rebottling. A brand-new virgin HDPE bladder from FDA-compliant resin in a reclaimed, blasted and zinc-recoated cage. The contact surface has held nothing but air, so there is no provenance conversation at all. About $100 a unit more than food grade and about $150 less than new.
We quote it rather than stretching a definition, which is occasionally a harder email to write and has never once come back to us.
Detailed questions
Is a used food-grade tote safe for drinking water?
In our judgement yes, and it is the most common potable request we fill. But your certifying authority — a state health department, an insurer, a municipal water board — may require a container that has only ever held water. If you are in that position, buy rebottled and remove the question entirely.
Can a tote that held a non-food product ever become food grade?
No, and we have never made an exception. HDPE is semi-permeable: over months in service small molecules diffuse into the polymer wall and over the following months diffuse back out. Cleaning acts on a surface; the residue is in the bulk.
What if the data plate is missing?
Then the unit is technical grade, permanently, however clean it looks. Provenance is a document rather than an inference. This is the single largest reason otherwise excellent units land in our cheapest tier, and we reject a meaningful share on that basis alone.
Do you guarantee no flavour or odour carry-over?
No, and nobody honestly can. What we can do is match prior contents to your product deliberately, which is the only genuine control available on a reused bottle. It costs us nothing to do on purpose and avoids an argument later.
How long is the certificate valid?
It does not expire — it describes what the unit held and how it was washed on a given date. What it stops doing is describing the object, the moment you put your own product in. Keep it filed against the serial number, because that is what closes the chain in an audit.
Can you re-wash and re-certify a unit I already own?
Yes, routinely, at $28 to $58 depending on residue class with a fresh certificate and full cycle data. Five to eight business days door to door for a Midwest round trip. This is the right answer when you must change product in a dedicated vessel.
What do food-safety auditors actually ask for?
The intake record for a specific serial number; how we know what it held; what happens to a unit with an illegible plate; who records prior contents and whether they have a commercial incentive; whether the pH meter is calibrated; and — the best question — to see a unit that was rejected from food grade and why. Not once in six years has anyone asked how clean a tote looked.
Is there a cheaper route to food-grade capability?
Ask for heavily stained units. A dye-ghosted food-grade tote sits at the bottom of the band — around $225 rather than $340 — and the staining has no functional effect whatever. It will be pink. Your product will not care.
Match the prior contents to your product
Tell us what you are filling and we will pull syrup, brine, oil or juice history on purpose rather than by chance.