hot-end head material

I actually did a tiny bit of testing around this and I suspect that the discussions you are seeing consist of people who don't know anything asking questions, then other people who maybe know a tiny bit more provide the answers.
I'm a quality assurance manager in the medical device industry during the day, so I'm probably someone who knows a little bit more and is used to searching for similar information, but still not an expert in food contact. I dug around a little bit to see what 'food grade plastic' means and I could find no regulations around food grade outside of industrial / commercial kitchen use.

I do have some access to some toxicity testing. I printed three little squares of Makerbot Black ABS (which by the way is the best ABS I've worked with so far) with my Replicator. My biggest concern was potential lead transfer from the small amounts of lead that could be present in the brass nozzle. I sent samples for a test called Agarose Overlay, which basically sits the samples on top of a biological medium for a period of time. At the end of the test, the sample is removed, the medium is dyed, and any 'cell death' is recorded. In the case of this test absolutely no cell death was noted, so I feel pretty good about the Makerbot black. I also feel pretty good that the brass in the nozzle isn't transferring anything nasty to the printed parts in detectable levels. This doesn't say anything about different colors, materials, brands, lots, etc, but its a good indication that the printer isn't turning otherwise safe filament toxic.
Its always good to be a little leary when it comes to health, and more than a little leary if you're actually thinking of selling it and affecting others' health, but I think you're probably OK in this case. If somebody actually plans on selling something in a food contacting application, let me know and I'll try to help you find the appropriate test centers.

-Matt

 

Updating this since I've come across some information on regulations around food contact:
EU: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R1935:EN:NOT
US: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfCFR/CFRSearch.cfm?CFRPart=177&showFR=1

Also, in my previous post, I don't know if I was clear that there are two completely differnt issues to consider:
-'safe for food' contact from a legal/regulatory perspective. i.e. if a company sells material that is not registered as being food safe, they could face legal action.
-will it actually hurt you. that is, is there something in the material that is, bureaucracy aside, definitely harmful. For example, polycarbonate with BPA was legally a food safe material, but the BPA is now generally considered harmful.

So, you can have materials that aren't identified as being food safe that are perfectly fine, but materials that meet the legal requirements of being food safe that do contain materials that can probably harm you.

Clear as mud, right?