How to distinguish ordinary silicone and food-grade silicone products?

The silicone can be divided into ordinary silicone and food-Grade silicone. Usually, ordinary silicone was widely in accessories for machinery, electronics, automobiles and agro-industrial industries.

What is Ordinary silicone?

Ordinary silicone usually refers to solid silicone gel, whose main components are silicon dioxide, water and surfactants, and the particle size is 1 to 3 mm. Ordinary silica gel is a porous material, which is often used to absorb moisture and deodorize. It is widely used in electronics, food, medical, home and other industries.

The physical properties of ordinary silica gel include good hygroscopicity and moisture absorption, but its surface is opaque and easy to stick to dust.

In addition, ordinary silica gel may volatilize harmful substances at high temperatures, so it is not suitable for applications that require high temperature environments. ‌

What is Food Grade silicone?

Food-grade silicone‌ refers to silicone materials that can come into direct contact with food, and are mainly used to make food-related products, such as baby pacifiers, food molds, water dispensers, kettles, etc. ‌

Food-grade silicone is an inorganic polymer colloidal material formed by the polycondensation reaction of silicic acid. The main component is silicon dioxide (SiO2·nH2O), and its content is above 98% ‌

‌Non-toxic and tasteless‌: Food-grade silicone is non-toxic and tasteless, with stable chemical properties, and can usually only react in environments other than caustic alkali and hydrofluoric acid ‌

‌High chemical stability‌: Under normal conditions, it does not react with any acid, alkali, or salt except caustic alkali and hydrofluoric acid ‌
‌Good physical properties‌: It has many micropores and a large specific surface area, and its surface is highly hydrophilic, and can absorb more than 80%-100% of its own weight of water ‌

The main purpose of Food-grade silicone is used for the manufacturing of food-contact products. Food-grade silicone is a type of silicone that is safe for use with foods. Silicone is used frequently in making molds to use for food that begins as liquids and solidifies. It is non-toxic; does not stain food, dishes, or cookware; is easily removed from cast objects, and is safe for use on various plastic objects.

Food-grade silicone is widely used in silicone kitchen utensils, baby pacifiers, drinking cups, baby sippy cups, and other places. Since food-grade silicone is higher in quality and price than ordinary silicone, the cost of producing regular qualified silicone products will be much higher. It is for this reason that some unscrupulous manufacturers use ordinary silicone to produce water cups, kitchen utensils, baby pacifiers, etc., which are in contact with our diet in order to reduce production costs and are shoddy.

Such products not only fail to meet the requirements of quality but also endanger the health of our human body. So how do we tell which ones are ordinary silicone and which ones are food-grade silicone?

The best way is to test on the lab by Intertek or Bureau Veritas or SGS, TUV. So most of the brands for the food contact brand products have certification about their goods.

As a Manufacturing company, we would like to share some easy ways to distinguish them.

Odor identification‌: Food-grade silicone is non-toxic and odorless, while ordinary silicone has a pungent odor‌

‌Pull test‌: Pull the silicone product hard. If white marks appear with a pungent odor, it is ordinary silicone; if there is no white mark but a slight odor, it may be food-grade silicone‌

‌Baking test‌: The upper temperature limit of ordinary silicone is 150℃, while food-grade silicone can withstand high temperatures up to 250℃, and even up to 350℃ in a short time‌

‌Certification mark‌: Choose silicone products with FDA food-grade certification to ensure that they are non-toxic and odorless, resistant to high temperatures, chemically stable, and highly transparent, and will not turn yellow or darken over time‌.

Smell Difference

Ordinary silicone products have a big smell.

The Food Grade Silicone also has a little odor, which is because the production process does not affect the quality, safety, and other issues, and the odor will be automatically eliminated after a period of time

The LSR silicone rubber smell is better than solid silicone rubber.

Touching Difference

Food-grade silicone has very good toughness and elasticity. It is not easy to be permanently deformed by the action of external force, and the hand feel will be smoother, while ordinary silicone products are easily deformed and rough to the touch.

Pinch or Twist test

When you pull hard, pinch or twist the products. The FDA products and ordinary silicone products will change colors.

The LFGB standard products will not change color. If you want to make sure your product is Food Grade Silicone(LFGB). You can use it this way, only at a little higher cost.

‌Certification mark‌: Choose silicone products with FDA food-grade certification to ensure that they are non-toxic and odorless, resistant to high temperatures, chemically stable, and highly transparent, and will not turn yellow or darken over time‌.

For our consumers, buy food-grade silicone products, try to go to a large supermarket to choose Brand Products produced by regular manufacturers are not only responsible for the protection of our consumers’ rights, but also for the health of our consumers.

In Z.S.R Group, We offer any molded Silicone products or Silicone project that needs technical support to the brand and retails, you could buy custom-molded Silicone products at ZSR Group. ZSR Group has rich experience in producing Silicone products with FDA or LFGB approved standards. We have the FDA register list number is 3011147430.