Food-grade totes, documented to death
Reuse is hardest to justify in food, which is exactly why this is the most heavily documented thing we do.
- Sheet
- 31
- Revision
- 2026-10
- Scale
- 1:1
- Drawn at
- Peoria IL
Four things, all of them documents
Food grade is not a property of the plastic. It is a chain of custody that happens to be wrapped around 275 gallons of it.
FDA-compliant bottle
Virgin HDPE resin certified for food contact. No post-consumer content in the wall, ever.
Documented history
Food or food-adjacent last contents only, named in writing. A gap in the history is a disqualification, not a discount.
Cycle 3 wash
Hot caustic recirculation, neutralisation with pH verification, then a potable-water final rinse.
Verified release
Swab or rinse-water test from a named lab, tied to the serial, with the certificate in the shipment.
- Sizes
- 275 gal (1040 L) and 330 gal (1250 L)
- Wash standard
- Cycle 3 — hot caustic, neutralise, potable final rinse
- Verification
- Swab test per wash lot, result on the certificate
- Hardware
- New EPDM gaskets, new 2" valve, vented or solid cap
- Traceability
- Laser-etched internal serial plus QR placard
- Allergen handling
- Declared allergen history flagged on the serial record
What we recommend for what you are filling
| Product | Container | Wash | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corn syrup / HFCS | Reconditioned food grade | Cycle 3, two caustic passes | Sugar film needs heat, not pressure |
| Vegetable & olive oil | Reconditioned food grade | Cycle 3 | Cold rinses leave a film every time |
| Vinegar & brine | Reconditioned food grade | Cycle 3 | HDPE handles it indefinitely |
| Honey & molasses | Reconditioned food grade | Cycle 3 + heat jacket | Discharge needs warmth |
| Juice concentrate | One-trip new | n/a | Flavour carry-over is not worth the saving |
| Fruit purée | One-trip new | n/a | Pulp in the sump is hard to validate |
| Liquid egg / dairy | New, dedicated | n/a | Cold chain and microbiology rule out reuse |
If your HACCP plan says virgin only
Then buy virgin. We will quote one-trip or new units without trying to argue you out of your own food safety plan.
What QA managers ask us
Can I audit your wash records?
Yes. Cycle logs, operator initials, pH readings and swab results are kept for seven years against the serial. Several customers have audited them on site.
Do you cross-load food and industrial containers?
Never within a serial range dedicated to a customer. In general inventory, a container that has carried industrial product does not return to food service — the grade record follows the serial permanently.
What does the certificate actually say?
Serial or lot, cycle type, temperature, duration, operator, neutralisation pH, final rinse water source and the lab result with its method.
Can you dedicate containers to our plant?
That is the pooling program: reserved serials, cycle 3 every turn, never cross-loaded, one invoice a month.
The wash that earns the food-grade release
| Stage | Water | Temperature | Duration | Verified how |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heel removal | — | Ambient | 4 min | Visual, logged against the declaration |
| Pre-rinse | Recovered, filtered | Ambient | 7 min | Operator sign-off |
| Caustic recirculation | Recovered, heated | 180°F | 22 min | Temperature log |
| Drain and neutralise | Recovered | Ambient | 7 min | pH read on the drain stream |
| Final rinse | Fresh potable, single pass | Ambient | 5 min | Sampled for the lab |
| Drain down and air | — | Ambient | 3 min + rack time | Visual, cap off, valve open |
| Record and release | — | — | — | Certificate issued against the serial |
- The final rinse is single-pass potable water and is never recovered back into a product-contact rinse.
- pH is read on the drain stream, not on a sample from a bucket, because a bucket tells you about the bucket.
- Swab or rinse-water results come from a named lab with the method stated, tied to the wash lot.
- New EPDM gaskets every time on a food-grade release. Gaskets are a few dollars and they are never reused.
- Allergen history is flagged on the serial record and a container does not move into a different allergen profile without a validated clean and your written acceptance.
What a food customer can ask to see
Cycle logs for a date range
Cycle type, temperature, duration, operator initials, pH on neutralisation. Seven-year retention, queryable by wash lot.
Lab results by lot
The swab or rinse-water result, the lab name and the method, attached to the lot your containers came from.
Contents history by serial
Everything a given container has ever held, as declared and as assessed by our grader if the two disagreed.
Resin certification
For the bottle in front of you, including rebottled units where the replacement bottle has its own lot.
Can we audit on site?
Yes, weekday mornings by appointment. Say so when you book and we will have the records out. Four customers have done it, two of them food manufacturers, and both changed their own specifications afterwards.
What if our plan requires virgin containers?
Then buy virgin. We will quote one-trip or new without trying to argue you out of your own food safety plan — we would rather lose the sale than be the gap in an audit.
Can you dedicate containers to our plant?
That is the pooling program: reserved serial ranges, cycle 3 every turn, never cross-loaded with industrial product, quarterly reporting, one invoice a month.
Do you handle kosher or halal requirements?
We can document the cleaning and the full contents history, which is what a certifying body will examine. We are not ourselves certified, and we will say so rather than imply otherwise.
How tight is food-grade availability?
It is our tightest line all year, because the documented-history requirement disqualifies most of what arrives at the gate. Give us notice rather than expecting same-week stock.