Which polymers are edible???
You think you are a joker, right? In popular usage polymers means plastics.
Most people forget about biopolymers. Starch, cellulose, proteins and
peptides are also polymers - most of them edible. DNA is also a
biopolymer ...and edible. There is no life without them.
Cheers
Volker
Yeah.. Chewing gum are polyesters....
Yo, Rolf.
I remember this as a legitimate question a couple of times back when I
was in Regulatory Affairs.
My stock answer was that while the polymer may have FDA approval for
food contact, we did not recommend eating them.
Cases I remember where an extruder plastic part was coming apart and
not discovered until after a lot of candy was made and feeding of
scrap candy bars which may contain traces of wrappers to farm animals.
Frank
I believe it was an extruder gear made out of Delrin. Delrin was not
one of my polymers but I was answering the question for absent Delrin
consultant. When candy maker opened machine for cleaning, gears were
falling apart and he wanted to know if candy was safe to sell. I
couldn't imagine him wanting to sell candy that might result in a
buyer's breaking his teeth on.
It may be "edible", but not "digestible", depending on the particle
size...!