Food and Tuff cloth ?

B

Boriqua

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
655
I did five different searches trying to get the answer to this one. I have just ordered another Ricky Fowler Knife in 0-1 steel. This one may touch food. Are the Sentry products safe to use on a knife that may see food??
Alex
 
That's a tough one. It is not FDA approved, but getting FDA approval is an expensive process and lacking it doesn't prove anything. There is no known evidence that it can harm you in any way.

Gun oils and WD-40 and anything like that all contain known toxins, though the amount you could get on your food (assuming you wiped off the knife after oiling it) is tiny and presumably people are not turning chartreuse and dropping dead in large numbers or we would have heard about it.

Renaissance Wax is FDA approved and I think there are several other commercial products that are. I haven't tried any of them.

I use mineral oil on any blade that I might cut food with even rarely. It's pretty good for preventing rust -- it doesn't last as long as Tuff Cloth but it's much better than WD-40. It's good for leather sheaths, too, and for dry skin, and you can even take it orally as a laxative. Buy it in drugstores -- it's also cheap.



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-Cougar Allen :{)
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This post is not merely the author's opinions; it is the trrrrrruth. This post is intended to cause dissension and unrest and upset people, and ultimately drive them mad. Please do not misinterpret my intentions in posting this.
 
I don't know for sure, but they do recommend using mineral spirits to recondition the cloth, and mineral spirits are bad for you to ingest...
Did you try the maker?
AG Russel markets something call NYOil (I think) that is supposed to be food safe.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.

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Can it core a apple?
 
The mineral spirits in Tuf-Cloth are just the carrier. That is, they evaporate. So, you don't ingest them.

I use my Tuf-Cloth coated knives to prepare food. If I were really obsessive compulsive about health risks, I would wash the blade down with detergent and water, or swab it down with alcohol before food preparation.

Walt Welch, M.D.
 
I heard it had no effect
I posted a question like this earlier like when your cutting an apple is the apple safe?
Sentry Solutions answered and said that as long as it was dry and not really noticable on your knife then it should be fine....

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My Email is- Hero47@juno.com -

 
Mineral oil is way to go for me. I wouldn't take a risk using Tuff Cloth on knife then using it in preparing food. Or try bringing with you those alcohol wipe pads just wipe your knife anytime you use it for food.

Rml
 
I posted the exact same topic a while ago, and the thread got pretty long. Might have been during year 1, though (I don't remember). Mineral spirits are considered to be a hazardous material, but like Walt Welch said, they evaporate fairly easily. I'm not sure what the rest of the chemicals that go into Tuf-cloth are, though. If you are like me, and paranoid about sticking toxins directly into your body, I currently use mineral oil on all my "food" knives. Works great and non-toxic.
 
Hmmm.. similar thread to one a couple of months ago.

I tested it by using a Tuf-Cloth treated knife, and prepared food with it. Tried it for months now, and see no apparent effect whatsoever... It became a funny thread for a while there.
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... except maybe turn my gut into something rust-proof.. hehehe...

What Walt said. The mineral spirit is only a carrier. Sentry's product bonds to metal, so there should be very little, if any, left to even contaminate your food.

I remembered Cliff saying something about apples. And he's right, there might be more contaminants on the skin of an apple than a Tuf-Cloth treated paring knife.
smile.gif


Dan
 
Ok I searched for "cloth food" "tuff food" "sentry food" and a couple other variations but I did not search in year 1. If someone can point me at the threads that have been mentioned I would appreciate it. I know the question what to use on a blade that will be used for food has been addressed but I want to know specifically about the tuff cloth as it is so highly recommended here but I dont know if it would be alright.
Alex
 
Alex,

I think the best person to answer this would be Mr. Mark Mrozek (sp?) of Sentry Solutions. He's lurking around somewhere, and I'm sure he'll turn up sooner or later, once he sees Tuf-Cloth being talked about again.. hehehe..

But from personal experiences, like I said, I haven't felt anything out of the ordinary since doing that test. Of course, if I ingest Tuf-Glide pure, that'll be a different thing altogether..
smile.gif


Wonder where Mark is...
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Dan
 
I e-mailed Sentry with this exact same question. They said that becuase Tuff Cloth is not FDA approved they can not recommend it for knives used in food preperation. I hope this helps.

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Shawn R Sullivan
~San Diego, Ca~
 
If oil is to be used, mineral oil is suggested over vegetable oils (and of course animal products) because the vegie oils will turn rancid.

My $0.02
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-Michael

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Chefget's Knife Page


 
Boriqua...

Try to do a search by the person who posted the topic. Search by my name, Felix. It should come up.
 
I see everyone has been busy over the weekend. Yes, there have been several threads dealing with these issues in recent memory. As usual most of what has been posted is accurate and helpful but some clarification is called for.

First, MrCas- Sentry has never stated that it does not recommend its products for use with blades contacting food. What you posted here is not accurate. What I did email (10/12/99) you, was this (clarified) :
Tuf-Cloths are made using industrial methods, ingredients and practices. The ingredients, methods and final products are not made under FDA conditions and for that reason the product is not FDA approved. Therefore, washing the blade prior to use is recommended.

Perhaps some confusion resulted from the fact that a product can not legally be presented (at least in the USA) for food use without FDA Approval. That is not to say that a product can not be used with food. Several other materials have been suggested as healthful solutions to the “rusting of kitchen knives”. Certainly oils (olive, mineral) produced for food and medical use should absolutely be considered safe. However any oil or wax that is not FDA Approved should be reviewed because they will definitely transfer from blades to food. If a product is FDA Approved it will be labeled as such.

Sentry Solutions’ TUF-CLOTHs and TUF-GLIDE are made using a mixture of proprietary/active ingredients in a mineral spirits carrier. The active ingredients bond to the pores in metal. Mineral spirits functions as the carrier then evaporates leaving the bonded protection on the surface. It is recommended you wash a blade before using it with food to remove any excess material and of course dirt etc.

These issues are important and reasonable. In our society it has become difficult to discuss such issues. That is too bad as such a climate only leads to more regulation and less exchange of information. I have attempted to get answers to these questions from our competitors and have actually been ignored. Have any of you had any luck getting information from other manufacturers?

As always, sorry for such a long posting and if there are any others questions, regarding use of our products or, what I really would like for Christmas, you know where to find me.

Happy & Healthy Holidays and a Great New Years to Everyone,


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Mark Mrozek, President
Sentry Solutions Ltd.
www.sentrysolutions.com
 
Hi!
I want to say Thank You to Mark for his answer. It's great to have you here on the forums.
Greetings
red
 
Sentry,
Thanks for posting your reply here. I can assure you that many, many knife users read these posts even if relatively few of us actually post on a particular thread. Many of us "knife-knuts" prefer high carbon blades because of their many superior characteristics [compared to stainless], but that leaves one serious drawback: corrosion. The search for an effective and safe anticorrosive agent therefor is particularly important to those of us who actually use high carbon knives in the field. I've long been concerned about this issue, food safety, but found it difficult to get a straight answer, for some of the reasons you have identified.
Ren Wax supposedly has FDA approval, but frankly, I am not completely comfortable with any wax or oil other than olive oil or a similar food product because I doubt that adequate long term research has been done, FDA approval or not. I don't use Ren Wax or Tuff cloth in the kitchen on a regular basis for my kids. In the field or for myself I do: a few molecules of residue wouldn't be the worst or most dangerous things to find their way into my mouth in a typical day. Just inhaling exhaust or second hand smoke is probably much worse.
Questions and comments about Tuff cloth and similar products are a constant and recurring theme on this forum. Please keep watching and contributing. Thanks.
 
Sentry,
You recommended washing the knife prior to using it on food. I thought that this ment that Tuff cloth was not safe on food preperation knives. I apologize. Thank you for the clarification.

[This message has been edited by MrCas (edited 22 December 1999).]
 
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