Best paint for a grape basket press? (non toxic or food safe)

46848351381381

Hello,

I have an old basket press similar to the picture below. It is used for pressing juice from grapes or other fruit. The base has some small sections of rust that I want to clean and repaint, and I am unsure of which paint I should use. It comes into contact with the juice for a very short period of time, so I am not sure if the paint needs to be non-toxic or food safe (if such paint exists). Is there a product suitable for this? Thanks in advance. 

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @46848351381381. It's great to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about food-safe paint.

Using food-safe paint is important. Would the paint on an old/antique grape basket press be food-safe? Probably not by today's standards, depending on how old it is.

Non-toxic and food-safe are two different ratings. Non-toxic paints won't necessarily garner a food-safe rating. Enamel paints like Dulux Aquanamel are non-toxic when cured but not designed for food preparation surfaces and have no food-safe rating. Food-safe paints must be safe under all food preparation circumstances, including foods with acidic properties.

I am unaware of any food-safe paints that would suit your project, and the only ones I am aware of would be used in industry at scale. I would suggest that your best bet would be to investigate having the unit professionally powder-coated, but please do make sure the process is confirmed safe for food.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell