3D Printed Cookie Cutter/Stamps - how to make food safe?

[natasha1270]

I've been playing around with 3d modeling and recently printed a cookie cutter/stamp. While the plastic itself is food safe, I've read that 3d printed cutters are not because of porosity issues (is that a word?).

Is there something I can spray or coat the cutter/stamp with so they can be re-used with food safely?

Thanks!

[AlaMoi]

I would be tempted to spray on some common sense.

 

if the material is food safe, the only "porosity" is the cutter collecting "goop" in the pores.  one could consider washing it.

one could consider letting it dry out very well....  bacterial have this "thing" about needing moisture; reallydrytheydie.

 

think about wood utensils in the kitchen.... is wood porous?  how come I'm not dead?

 

what's the plastic temp of the material?  can you boil the cutter to sterilize? 

(I wouldn't, but for the tinfoil hat crowd......)

 

don't forget, after you cookie-cutter the dough and infect it with all kinds of nasty fatal bugs, it gets baked....as in lots of heat....

Edited June 29, 2015 by AlaMoi (log)

[Smithy]

Those are nifty cookie cutters. Congrats!

I wouldn't worry about the porosity. Everything's porous on some level, and - as AlaMoi points out - you're baking the cookies hot and long enough to kill the unlikely bacteria that might grow there. A food-grade oil spray before use might help seal the pores if you were really concerned, but I'd be inclined to just wash them after use like any other cookie cutter. If, after some use and washing, you start noticing an off-flavor or off-smell, you'll know that the pores are retaining something.

[natasha1270]

For myself, I am more willing to take a risk on re-using them than on food I am offering to others - I guess I'm just kind of thoughtful (paranoid?) that way since many websites say to just treat the printed cutters as disposable.

 

Do you really think 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes is enough to negate any potential bacterial transfer in the crevices of the design?

[AlaMoi]

do I really think . . .

 

uhm.  in a word, yes.

 

the run of the mill bacteria do not survive <200'F.

ask your local friendly surgeon if he would be happy to have his instruments sterilized in boiling water.

 

...treat the printed cutters as disposable.

is this because they are contaminated with horrible deadly bugs (from where?  the dough?  does this mean you can't eat the cookies either after they are baked because the cookie dough has contaminated the cookie cutter?  where did the bugs go?)

or because the structural integrity of a bunch of semi-glued plastic dots is not up to a massive cast iron casting?

[natasha1270]

Although I don't really appreciate the tone, I do appreciate the response. thanks!