Food & water contact appliances & utensils

Materials used for kitchen appliances, kitchen utensils and industrial food preparation applications need to meet strict food contact requirements as after water comes out of the tap it is considered food. Besides the strict local regulatory requirements, there are often challenging requirements in appliances, such as coffee machines for long-term use in contact with hot water or steam, or simply for high mechanical performance at elevated temperatures that prevent the use of commodity plastics. Even kitchen utensils, such as spatulas, pan handles, and cake ring slicers, need to meet high temperature mechanical and food contact requirements since these utensils are used for frying and baking.

High performance thermoplastic materials can help eliminate lead from these applications. A second advantage is that these plastics can offer further simplification of designs, reduction of weight, further downsizing and reduction of the total system costs by eliminating metal components. An important aspect of these plastics is a good level of the weldline strength and its retention after storage under the extreme use conditions.