Is chrome plating safe for food processing tools or machines?

A. Yes, hard chrome plating is used on machinery for food processing on such components as doctor blades and the surfaces they doctor. In addition, some food service items like spatulas, serving spoons, etc. are chrome plated. I have a table fork I keep as a souvenir that was part of a copper nickel chrome plated steel flatware set. It is terribly rusty, so it's probably not the best finish for flatware, but for durability reasons rather than safety.

A. Hi Donna. I don't think any regulations have changed, and don't see a problem with chrome plated serving materials, although there is nickel plating under the chrome and some people may have acquired a skin allergy to nickel since piercings are so much more common now than in the 1970s.

Chrome looks like chrome. When it no longer looks like chrome, it no longer is chrome, although that doesn't make it toxic. Enjoy your serving ware.

Regards,

A. Hi Bill. I don't think chrome plating was used on griddles. I believe they were probably nickel plated, although that's before my time. Although I doubt that either is a hazard I'd probably go with nickel plated.

Regards,

? Did you get your O'Keefe and Merritt re-chromed? If so, please direct me to who you used or recommendations. I'm having a hard time finding someone. Cherry Harrison - Dallas, Texas August 7, 2021 Hi Cherry. Apologies but we can't post brand/sourcing suggestions publicly ( huh? why?); but if you reply that it's okay to release your e-mail address, etc., we'll make your posting an REQ and people can privately contact you. Luck & Regards, Ted Mooney, P.E. RET Striving to live Aloha finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Edralin. Nothing is perfectly safe; it's all relative. So, while it may be reasonable for a consumer to continue to use a chrome plated something or other, it may not be reasonable for a manufacturer to introduce a given product line ...

Chrome can dissolve in acids, and I can picture some consumer somewhere pouring undiluted vinegar ⇦in bulk on eBay or Amazon [affil links] into a braising pan, and possibly dissolving some chrome into the liquid. I would suggest that you try boiling vinegar in a hard chrome plated braising pan and do a chemical analysis to see whether it dissolves any of the chrome. If that works okay, you might "accidentally" burn a pan, and come up with a couple of other tests based on plausible scenarios before feeling confident. The question probably shouldn't be how will things turn out if all goes according to plan, but how they will be if all turns to s**t. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Eos. Nothing is 100% safe, but I can't see the chrome plating being the first issue of concern. I'd be more worried about electrocution hazard, burning, crushing a finger, etc. How do you even know for sure that it is chrome plated? Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Karen. I don't have any reason to think it's unsafe, but a stainless steel bowl would probably be better if that is a realistic option for you.

Regards,

A. Hi Tim. There is no such regulation or statement to my knowledge. I think it's rather the reverse: there is no FDA regulation or statement prohibiting it :-)

An interesting page at http://www.productknowledge.com/north-american-food-contact-regulations.html says:

I think you will find this NSF document interesting though ⇨
https://standards.nsf.org/apps/group_public/download.php/3941/nsf51-97.pdf ⇩
Good luck.

Regards,

Ed. update Dec. 2024: Sorry, you're too late. That is no longer a free download, but a $215 one from ANSI: NSF/ANSI 51-2023.

A. Hi John. Sorry for your troubles.
Chromium can take three forms, as a metal (valence 0, as on an automobile grill), as a trivalent ion (valence +3, in supplements like chromium picolinate), and as hexavalent chromium (valence +6, which is indeed a toxic chemical).

All employees should be warned of all dangers in things they work with, of course. Chromium is an essential micronutrient, and some people even take chromium supplements. Whether chromium can switch oxidation/valence states is a quite involved question. Most people think there is no danger in chromium metal or trivalent chromium ... but people have been wrong before, and you're clearly welcome to your beliefs.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi Paul. I would doubt that any tea serviceware was branded or trademarked "Chromium", so it's hard for anyone to even guess what you have. Still I see no reason to think that it's unsafe.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi Paul!
Your question gave me a bit of a chuckle. Not at your expense, of course , but because of the overall prevalence of chromium as an integral part of so many alloys that have found their way into food-contact surfaces over the ages. Restaurant-grade stainless steels, once given their final passivated finish, depend upon chromium oxides to protect the substrate from further oxidative attack. Those beautiful depression-era wrought aluminum serving dishes also have some Cr in them, and it is part of what allows the metal to stay relatively unaffected by normal use.
Think about it this way... normal use isn't nearly as chemically aggressive as the conditions that would free the chromium into the food. I mean, please don't use 5% or greater nitric acid to make a batch of pickles in your teapot, and you should be all set.
In all seriousness, though:
One of the things I've done to try to save my shop some money in waste hauling fees is to have lab analyses done on our spent baths to determine what can legally just be yeeted down the drain. We passivate high chromium stainless steels in many different solutions, and as it turns out, the citric acid baths do not actually leach chromium off parts. In foods, you're encountering similar mild organic acids. Our nitric baths pick up chromium, but I dearly hope your family recipe for bread n butter cukes does not include a splash of 42-baumé nitric! Yow!
To put your mind at ease, simply avoid extremes of pH, as you would do with any metallic dish. Don't use bleach on the stainless fridge, don't scramble eggs on an uncoated aluminum skillet, and yeah no extra sour, gut-corroding, nitric tea in your teapot.
Cheers!