Food & beverage
Food-grade reuse is where the sustainability story gets hard, and that is exactly why we document it to death. Cycle 3 wash, swab result, certificate, serial. Every single tote.
- Sheet
- 53
- Revision
- 2026-10
- Scale
- 1:1
- Drawn at
- Peoria IL
A food-grade tote is a chain of custody, not a sticker
Known last contents
Food or food-adjacent only. If the declaration has a gap, the tote does not get the grade.
FDA-compliant bottle
Virgin HDPE resin certified for food contact, no recycled content in the bottle wall.
Cycle 3 wash
Hot caustic, neutralise, potable final rinse, pH verified, swab tested.
Documented release
Certificate with lot, serial, operator and test result — issued before the tote leaves the yard.
| Product | Container we recommend | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Corn syrup / HFCS | Food-grade reconditioned 275 | Hot caustic removes sugar film completely |
| Vegetable & olive oil | Food-grade reconditioned 275 | Needs caustic; cold rinse leaves residue |
| Juice concentrate | One-trip new tote | Flavour carry-over risk is not worth it |
| Fruit purée | One-trip new tote | Pulp in the sump is hard to validate |
| Vinegar / brine | Food-grade reconditioned 330 | HDPE handles it indefinitely |
| Honey | Food-grade reconditioned 275, heated | Needs a heat jacket for discharge |
| Liquid egg, dairy | New, dedicated | Cold-chain and microbiology rule out reuse |
The questions a QA manager asks
Will you sell me a reconditioned tote for direct food contact?
Yes, with the cycle 3 certificate and a last-contents chain we can show you. If your HACCP plan requires virgin containers, we will say so and quote one-trip units instead — we would rather lose the sale than be the gap in your audit.
Can you dedicate totes to our plant only?
That is the pooling program. Serial ranges reserved to your account, washed to cycle 3 every turn, never cross-loaded with industrial product.
What about allergens?
We flag allergen history on the serial record. Totes with declared allergen contents are not released into a different allergen profile without a validated cleaning and your written acceptance.
What a food auditor will ask for, and where it lives
| Auditor asks for | We hold | Queryable by | Lead time to produce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resin certification for the bottle | Supplier certificate, by bottle lot | Serial | Same day |
| Contents history across the life | Declarations plus our own assessment | Serial | Same day |
| Cleaning validation | Cycle type, temperature, duration, operator | Serial, wash lot, date | Same day |
| Neutralisation evidence | pH read on the drain stream | Wash lot | Same day |
| Microbiological or residue result | Lab name, method, result | Wash lot | Same day |
| Allergen history | Flagged against the serial | Serial | Same day |
| Chain of custody | Intake to release to bill of lading | Load | Same day |
- Cycle 3 is the only release path for food contact: hot caustic, neutralisation with pH verification, single-pass potable final rinse, swab tested.
- New EPDM gaskets every time on a food-grade release. Never reused, and the certification is available if your plan needs it on file.
- A container that has carried industrial product does not return to food service. The grade record follows the serial permanently.
- Allergen-declared containers do not move into a different allergen profile without a validated clean and your written acceptance.
- If your HACCP plan requires virgin containers, we will quote one-trip or new rather than argue with your plan.
Two food manufacturers have audited these records on site. Both asked for cycle logs across a named quarter, lab results by lot and the contents history of specific serials, and both changed their own container specifications afterwards — in one case tightening it, in the other relaxing it.