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Bleach-- food safe?

D

DaveK

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I've read the posts on the forum about removing mildew and mold stains. I've removed most of mine with straight chlorox-type bleach. If I don't get the rest out, I may consider the TSP and Bleach combination described in the other post.

But here's the question:If bleach (or Bleach + TSP) are used to remove stains on an almost-completed bowl, is that bowl safe for food--salads? Assume I would rinse the bowl with water before continuing completing the bowl..

Maybe a different question is besides lemon juice what SHOULD I have removed the mildew with?

Dave
 
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Clorox is a weak solution of sodium hypochlorite. It is an oxidizer that can be diluted and used efficiently in small waterworks to chlorinate the water.

As with any chemical oxidizer you should use caution when handling as it can burn the skin and clothing.
 
Food-Safe

The government says that some of the finishes used on wood are food-safe. That same government says that some of the chemicals used in the finishes you put on wood are not food-safe.

Some sages say you should never use spalted wood with food. I don't think I've ever tasted wood that I liked, whether it was spalted or not!

There seems to be a consensus that when whatever finish you use no longer has any odor on the wood, it is then food-safe. Sounds reasonable!

Keep turning and learning!😀
 
Do NOT GO THERE

Steve Worcester said:
Hit it with white vinegar and that will neutralize the bleach. As far as food safe afterwards, most likely, government tested, no.
Click to expand...

Steve , and all,

You cannot use acid (vinegar) to neutralize chlorine bleach UNLESS you do so on a windy day OUTSIDE. The reason being that neutralization will release chlorine gas. See warnings in "Section VII Reactivity" in MSDS on Clorox at the link.

http://www.thecloroxcompany.com/products/msds/bleach/cloroxregularbleach0505_.pdf
 
Me thinks you worry too much.

Most of the standard bleaching processes use common household chemicals -- chlorine bleach, TSP, hydrogen peroxide, lye, oxalic acid (spinach has a lot of this).

Don't drink these chemicals, but...

All I would do is rinse with clean water.

- That's all you need to do when you scour a pot with "Comet", which contains a chlorine bleach...
- Or when bleach is used when washing the towel that's used to pat the lettuce dry...
- No one tries to remove the oxalic acid from spinach before eating it...
- Dilute hydrogen peroxide is sometimes used as a mouth wash...
- Lye is used to make soap, which can be used to wash the bowl, the towel, your hands...

Just rinse well with water.
- Forget the vinegar because the acetic acid takes forever to evaporate from the wood.
- If you are really compulsive and just have to neutralize, neutralize with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).

A finish layer is totally optional.
 
great answers all

Thanks everyone. My wife reminded me restaurants clean cutting boards etc with bleach. Sounds like there's a few differences in some responses as to final treatment. If anyone else has added comments, I welcome them.

It doesn't sound as drastic as I had thought before I posted this. I am wanting to give this as a gift salad bowl and I just didn't want to give someone something that might make them sick (obviously!)
 
The bleach will degrade in a few days no need to neutralize it. Wipe it on, wipe it off with some water, let it dry.
 
Keep the buyer informed

But here's the question:If bleach (or Bleach + TSP) are used to remove stains on an almost-completed bowl, is that bowl safe for food.

This is one of those cases where, if you need to ask, you probably know the answer. The simplest approach is to tell people that you've bleached the wood and that there might be some residual chemical. Let them decide. Otherwise you've got some liability if something does happen.
 
The Smell Test

Use Bleach and TSP on your bowl. Rinse.

Let dry.

Give it the smell test. Does it smell of bleach? Let it dry some more?

Is a bleach treated bowl food safe? - the answer - Not really a problem. I would not worry about that. Strong solutions of bleach are used to chlorinate water for drinking, so you are probably drinking bleach. Same thing is used to treat swimming pool water. You may not drink swimming pool water, but many kids do. Drink it straight, wouldn't taste too good. From the MSDS sheet quoted earlier: "Ingestion: Do not induce vomiting. Drink a glassful of water. If irritation
develops, call a physician. Do not give anything by mouth to an unconscious
person. "

Drinking the water after drinking bleach is the same thing as rinsing the bleach off your bowl after you have treated it.

John 🙂
 
Steve Worcester said:
Hit it with white vinegar and that will neutralize the bleach. As far as food safe afterwards, most likely, government tested, no.
Click to expand...

Steve, what are you thinking? Whatever you do, never use vinegar or any other acid in an attempt to neutralize your chlorine bleach. It will destroy the hypochlorite that is the active ingredient of chlorine bleach, but only by turning it into much more caustic and dangerous chemicals, including deadly chlorine gas.
 
Marc Ruby said:
But here's the question:If bleach (or Bleach + TSP) are used to remove stains on an almost-completed bowl, is that bowl safe for food.
Click to expand...

Is a cutting board that's been sterilized with a bleach solution safe for food? Does the restaurant have to notify you?

Perhaps we need a little more common sense and a little less fear.
 
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stnick said:
...... Drinking the water after drinking bleach is the same thing as rinsing the bleach off your bowl after you have treated it.
Click to expand...

Not really because drinking water following "drinking bleach" doesn't change the amount of bleach that you have consumed (I am sure that you do not mean actually drinking bleach as it would react almost instantly with the tissue in your mouth, throat, etc.). OTOH, rinsing reduces the concentration.

Barbara Gill said:
Actually bleach is used for small water systems that chlorinate.
Click to expand...

I was referring to municipal systems that do continuous treatment and not to your comment about private wells. These days, most municipalities get the largest part of their water from surface sources. Most private wells that are not part of a distributions system do not routinely do any treatment at all unless something leads them to do a shock treatment. My parents live on a farm and the last time that they had any sort of treatment was when a pump was replaced. The problem with using chlorine products in surface water is that THM's will form from the reaction between organic compounds and chlorine.
 
Of course, some might say that chlorine is chlorine, regardless if it comes from hydrochloric (muriatic) acid in the swimming pool or sodium hypochlorite in the wash. Oxygen bleaches things. Why peroxide is the choice to get out color. It's just souped-up water, so no strange chlorine compounds are formed. http://science.howstuffworks.com/question189.htm

Since the garden variety bleach is about the concentration (5%) which can damage mucous membranes, instant dilution is the preferred method for ingestion, rather than any attempt to neutralize it. If you wonder what it might do to you, think of that reflux (heartburn) you get when you overeat.

When you spray or wipe bleach over the bloody Gurney to kill HIV and other viruses the chlorine soon becomes one with the air as it and the water evaporate. What you smell is the result of what's in the air mixing with the fluid in your nasopharynx.
 
boehme said:
Steve, what are you thinking? .....
Click to expand...

I am thinking that is the directions of the products. For instance on Klean Strip Wood Bleach..

"5. Naturalzing: After a second application of the WOOD BLEACH A and B mixture, you must neutralize the wood. Wait at least 2 hours after the last application, then neutralize by sponging the wood with diluted white vinegar (2 parts water to 1 part vinegar"

or HOODBLEACH 190 (which bleaches far better than Klean Strip)

"as a last step before sanding and refinishing NEUTRALIZE the wood with a diluted commercial brand of vinegar solution, followed by tap water...."

I am not suggesting that after you spilled the Clorox, dump vinegar on it. I am suggesting read the instructions and try what they say, as they make the product and have more lawyers than we do and they do research on their own products. This conversation (thread) is (should be) in the context of wood bleach, not radical doped up, full strength commercial/laboratory grade pharmaceutical chemicals or household bleach.

Uhmm, that's what I am saying.
 
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boehme said:
I was referring to municipal systems that do continuous treatment and not to your comment about private wells. These days, most municipalities get the largest part of their water from surface sources. Most private wells that are not part of a distributions system do not routinely do any treatment at all unless something leads them to do a shock treatment. My parents live on a farm and the last time that they had any sort of treatment was when a pump was replaced. The problem with using chlorine products in surface water is that THM's will form from the reaction between organic compounds and chlorine.
Click to expand...


I am not talking about private wells; in fact the word "private" was not in what I wrote. I am talking about small public water systems; subject to State and Federal regulations. There is a big difference.
 
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