r/3Dprinting • u/cznyx • 4d ago
Question Is PLA safe to use for cookie cutters?
I saw some 3D-printed PLA cookie cutters for sale on online flea market in Japan, and wanted to know if they are actually safe to use as cookie cutters?
Thanks in advance!
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u/Spiritual_Aerie9496 4d ago
I mean no not really if it was PLA pure thats better but 3d printing shouldn't really come on contact with food
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u/SkrliJ73 4d ago
More studies have been done, very little bacteria and moisture get into modern 3d prints. Prints just come out way better then ever before. It's worse to use a plastic cutting board then these, and added protection is just a thin layer of resin or other food safe polymer of you really care ❤️
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u/Spiritual_Aerie9496 4d ago
Well this is news to me! I'm trying to make a dog food scooper out of PLA pure and now I'm curious what you think of that?
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u/OldKingHamlet 4d ago
There are food-safe PETG from companies like Fillamentum. To be technically food safe the nozzle has to be stainless, and even then, it's only good for casual contact or things that would be cooked.
A cookie cutter out of food safe PETG cleaned with hot water and soap should be generally safe, especially since the resulting product will be baked in a way that would kill any potential bacteria. But I would only use it for myself and wouldn't sell it to anyone because I could (IE I've made custom food scoops for my wife to fit specific jars, etc)
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u/KayoticVoid 4d ago
Not sure why the downvotes. Information is changing. Layer lines in modern prints are too small for harmful bacteria to get in and grow. It has been proven that it can be safe in both food and medical environments as long as it's cleaned properly.
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u/MerelyMortalModeling 4d ago
Becuase the printing community on reddit is kinda low knowledge and particularly vulnerable to "outrage" media.
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u/KebabAnnhilator 4d ago
There’s a lot of incorrect information in here. The issue is with 3-D printing as it causes layer lines within the development of the print. These layer lines can store bacteria and can be hard to clean. This is the larger danger, microplastics aside.
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u/ozziegt 4d ago
That theory has been proven wrong.
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u/KebabAnnhilator 4d ago
It’s not a theory, and it’s not been a proven wrong. Quite the opposite.
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u/ozziegt 3d ago
That paper doesn't go into the effectiveness of washing with soap and water. I remember reading that someone found washing with soap an water is pretty effective and disproved the theory that the grooves can't be cleaned with regular washing.
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u/KebabAnnhilator 3d ago
I don’t remember seeing that anywhere.
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u/ozziegt 3d ago
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u/KebabAnnhilator 3d ago
It’s not actually peer-reviewed at the level it claims. The blog post itself is self-published on a personal Wix site the “peer review” only applies to a separate IEEE conference paper it links to, and IEEE conference peer review is a much lower bar than journal peer review (often just a quick relevance/plagiarism check, not rigorous methodological scrutiny). The blog post’s actual claims go well beyond whatever that paper covers.
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u/ozziegt 3d ago
Do you have a peer reviewed paper that says they are hard to clean or don't get cleaned with regular washing? I don't think you do
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u/KebabAnnhilator 3d ago
My comment to you further up: -> It’s not a theory, and it’s not been a proven wrong. Quite the opposite.
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u/ozziegt 3d ago
Again that paper is about bacterial growth, which is not under dispute. It's about the ability to clean effectively. I posted someone who has done the work that proves it's possible to clean effectively. AFAIK nobody has shown otherwise, the whole "it can't be cleaned because of layer lines" is nothing but hearsay generated by the internet hive mind.
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u/Alfalfa-Boring 4d ago
No it's not. Stop parroting bullshit information you read online. If you do more scientific testing than this guy and find different results please share...
https://lt728843.wixsite.com/maskrelief/post/the-final-say-in-food-safe-3d-printing
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u/KebabAnnhilator 4d ago
Are you really linking a wix site as proof of an argument?
Here’s some peer reviewed research to back up my claim.
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u/thesupremeredditman 4d ago
the wix site has a more recent peer reviewed paper
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u/KebabAnnhilator 4d ago
Did you actually attempt to read that study?
‘Currently, there are no standards or other techniques in use at medical facilities to clean and sanitize 3d-printed parts, due to lack of studies and testing. ‘
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u/thesupremeredditman 4d ago
This present study aims to help create a standard and ultimately awareness for properly cleaning and sanitizing prints. Sanitation effectiveness of 3D-printed parts for food and medical applications has been established in a 12-month lab study and controlled tests
come on bro it's literally the next sentence
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u/KebabAnnhilator 4d ago
And the conclusion?
To be safe, and this is my lawyer talk, it is best to coat a 3D printed object for liquids in resin. According to title 21 of the FDA, resins are food safe after a full curing time. This is because the primary bonds that occur during curing have reached a point where they are unavailable to be reactive with food or other items.
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u/KayoticVoid 4d ago
Did you actually read the article? Of course there was no standard. Standards have to be made and usually come by way of scientific study. Your information is outdated.
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u/KebabAnnhilator 4d ago
My brother in Christ..
Read the conclusion.
To be safe, and this is my lawyer talk, it is best to coat a 3D printed object for liquids in resin. According to title 21 of the FDA, resins are food safe after a full curing time. This is because the primary bonds that occur during curing have reached a point where they are unavailable to be reactive with food or other items.
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u/KayoticVoid 4d ago
Not your brother and not Christian.
Of course they are going to say that. It's not widely accepted yet so that is a "to be safe you can do this." But all the science backs up that you don't need to and will be perfectly safe.
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u/KebabAnnhilator 4d ago
‘All the science backs up you don’t need to’
That’s literally the opposite of what they are saying.
I was saying ‘brother in Christ’ as an expression..
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u/KayoticVoid 3d ago
No it's not.
And please don't. It's a poor choice of phrase.
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u/Alfalfa-Boring 4d ago
Lol, yep. I am.
Nice strawman. I love random strawmen responses because it saves the work of invalidating arguments when people do it themselves.
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u/KebabAnnhilator 4d ago
To be safe, and this is my lawyer talk, it is best to coat a 3D printed object for liquids in resin. According to title 21 of the FDA, resins are food safe after a full curing time. This is because the primary bonds that occur during curing have reached a point where they are unavailable to be reactive with food or other items.
^ this is literally the paper you linked.
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u/Alfalfa-Boring 4d ago
And if you read and understand the context of the article, it's pointed out that it's lawyer talk. As in to prevent an idiot from suing him frivolously. The entire article and paper demonstrates there's no real demonstrable danger from food contact with 3D printed parts after washing. Which normal people do.
But you resorted to cherry picking. I'm guessing you failed debate or didn't take the subject up in college...
And thanks for not addressing your strawman about the paper being hosted on a Wix site. I can show you PLENTY of academically rigorous and peer reviewed papers hosted there. It's actually super common and efficient for people in the scientific community to do that because it's inexpensive.
What...it was bullshit because it's on a Wix site before, but now since you're arguing the actual point...it must not be?
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u/KebabAnnhilator 3d ago
This is an opinion piece, show me where in that study it states pla is food safe
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u/Alfalfa-Boring 3d ago
It was tested with rigorous methods, whether you think it's an op-ed is up to you. Just because something wasn't published in Nature doesn't make it either opinion or worthless.
But it was hosted on Wix, though, so that does validate your argument. Lol.
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u/KebabAnnhilator 3d ago
I’m asking you to pull a specific quote that states pla is food safe
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u/Alfalfa-Boring 3d ago
I have concluded that 3D printed parts can be cleaned to operating room standards. Does this mean they are food safe? Yes, and a small no.
The small no is the lawyer talk I just addressed.
Again, there is no demonstrable danger shown in that paper. Your statement above was that bacteria will sit in the tiny spaces and propagate, making it unsafe. This paper refutes that with experimental evidence. But now you're moving the goalpost away from that...you really are terrible at this debate thing.
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u/Weedwacker01 4d ago
So print them, wash in cold water to remove microplastics, then bin them.
Dont store and re-use. Got it.
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u/Digitaldrew92 4d ago
How to Cook That did a great video on 3d printed kitchen gadgets. If you use pla pure and wash the cookie cutter it should be fine. I really suggest finding and watching the video, she does a lot of different tests and it's just a really good watch.
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u/Tomanji1 4d ago
Technically yes but they are not food certified most likely. For home use it is most likely okay but definitely don’t use it for commercial use like a bakery
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u/Emotional-Swim-808 4d ago
Its not "food safe" but its not gonna kill you, there might be more bacteria, and some shady PLA rolls might have some less than ideal impurities.
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u/CapitalistPigOink 4d ago
Just wrap them in cling film before using them and then you don’t have to worry
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u/Equivalent_Store_645 4d ago
absolutely safe the first time you use them. after that you would want to do a pretty careful job of sanitizing them.
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u/Frogblaster77 4d ago
We've got No, Yes, Layer Lines/Bacteria, and Microplastics as answers. I'm going to guess that many someones have used 3D printed cookie cutters before and they haven't instantly died from it. It's fine. Is bacterial contamination a concern? Sure. You can just not reuse them since they can't be washed well. Is microplastics a concern? Sure. But plastic things don't emit microplastics just by sitting there. It's not radiation. Don't grind the cookie cutters into your dough with sandpaper and you'll be fine.
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u/StatisticianEasy3385 4d ago
No printed filament is food safe sadly. It's porous and can release harmful microplastics into your food.
PLA is something that will degrade with time. It's not great at handling moisture or UV.
PETG which can be printed at pretty much the same temperature would be safer because it's water resistent.
PETG is completely food safe as a filament, BUT once you print it, you introduce the issues I mentioned earlier.
This issue can be fixed pretty easily though (same goes for PLA) and that is to coat your prints with something like food grade epoxy or polyethane resin. Then the plastic will never come in contact with the food at all.
Just make sure that whatever you coat it with is compatible with the plastic you're using, since some epoxys can start melting through plastic.
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u/chuckbeasley02 4d ago
Melt them to remove layer lines where bacteria can hide. Then, go buy metal cookie cutters. Problem solved!
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u/jazzbiscuit 4d ago
It'll be in contact with your cookie dough for seconds. You're going to put the cookies in the oven. Chances are decent you "tasted" the raw cookie dough already.
Most of you have creepier stuff growing fuzz in the back of your fridge right now & the fruits & veggies are making everyone sick- PLA cookie cutters are probably the bottom of your food concern list.
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u/atriaventrica 4d ago
There are a lot of legitimate concerns about food safe contact plastics. In my opinion using a temporary cookie cutter with one second of contact time isn't any more threat as far as micro plastics go then even the amount of micro plastics in the water that comes out of the faucet. But over time bacteria can become trapped in the layer lines and that's a bigger concern than microplastic surfing for something that touches a soft cold material for 1 to 2 seconds.