[TheForge] Food grade metal

[James Binnion]

304 or 18-8 stainless are considered food safe because nothing you are going to eat can typically dissolve the chrome oxide surface passivation layer. Copper, aluminum, steel or iron all can be dissolved by acids in foods like tomatoes or citrus. The truly paranoid don't want to ingest those metal compounds. So for storage appropriate grades of stainless are the only common alloy that is not going to be easily dissolved by some foods. Of course gold and platinum would be food safe as would titanium.

James Binnion
jbin at well.com