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Edible polymers???

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Rita B. Flesh

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May 7, 2009, 8:55:19 PM5/7/09
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I love to eat polymers, because they are so tasty.

Which polymers are edible???

Volker Borst

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May 8, 2009, 8:42:20 AM5/8/09
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Rita B. Flesh schrieb:

> I love to eat polymers, because they are so tasty.
>
> 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

Rolf Wissmann

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May 9, 2009, 7:58:36 AM5/9/09
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... suggest chewing gum ...

Sai

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May 10, 2009, 1:20:46 AM5/10/09
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Yeah.. Chewing gum are polyesters....

Frank

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Jun 8, 2009, 9:04:30 AM6/8/09
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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

Rolf Wissmann

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Jun 9, 2009, 5:51:34 AM6/9/09
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Hi Frank, sounds fair! However, could this kind of issue of plastic parts coming apart, not also occur in regular food processing machines, thus making vegetables, meat, baby food, you name it, contaminated and therefor unedible? Rolf

Frank

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Jun 9, 2009, 8:01:36 AM6/9/09
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> > Frank- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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.

L Alpert

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Jun 18, 2009, 10:24:11 PM6/18/09
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"Rolf Wissmann" <RolfWi...@t-online.de> wrote in message
news:h0lbbb$u4s$02$1...@news.t-online.com...

Hi Frank, sounds fair! However, could this kind of issue of plastic
parts coming apart, not also occur in regular food processing
machines, thus making vegetables, meat, baby food, you name it,
contaminated and therefor unedible? Rolf

It may be "edible", but not "digestible", depending on the particle
size...!

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