Which Wood Types Are Authorized for Food Contact?
03/09/2019
Working with wood inevitably raises this existential question, answered on the DGCCRF website:
So, straightforwardly, the wood types usable for all food types are:
- oak,
- hornbeam,
- chestnut,
- ash,
- black locust,
- fir,
- spruce,
- Douglas fir,
- maritime pine,
- Scots pine,
- poplar,
- beech,
- plane tree,
- aspen,
- alder,
- olive,
- birch.
And for solid foods:
- walnut,
- beech,
- elm,
- poplar.
However, a closer reading raises questions...
The principle for authorizing a wood type for food contact is simple: it must remain neutral.
Yet, for countless other species, we’re at an impasse because "There is no regulatory authorization procedure for the use of wood species, especially exotic ones, for food contact."
Moreover, two inconsistencies arise in the DGCCRF’s information.
The first is straightforward. French poplar and beech are authorized only for solid food contact. But European Poplar or Beech are authorized for all food types. Perhaps because they’re capitalized when European.
The second inconsistency is subtler. On one hand, the regulation "states that materials and objects intended for food contact must be inert with respect to foodstuffs." On the other hand, oak is authorized for all food types (including liquids). Yet it’s well-known that aging wine in oak barrels imparts a woody flavor...
So, to thrive like a hornbeam, must one be as flexible as a poplar without drowning in regulations that hinder wood use?