What’s required for food-grade lubricants, and what isn’t? Winding your way through the labyrinth of regulations and registrations that impact nonfood compounds, such as lubricants, can be tedious. Here’s a quick tour.
Lubricant Categories
There are three main categories of lubricants used in the food industry.
H1 lubricants – Lubricants that could have incidental food contact are sometimes referred to as “above the line” lubricants. These may be used on food-processing equipment as a protective antirust film, as a release agent on gaskets or seals of tank closures, and as a lubricant for machine parts and equipment in locations where the lubricated part is potentially exposed to food. The amount used should be the smallest needed to accomplish the desired technical effect on the equipment. If used as an antirust film, they must be removed from the equipment surface. Ingredients for use in H1 lubricants are designated HX-1.
H2 lubricants – These are lubricants with no possibility of contacting food. These compounds may be used as a lubricant, release agent or antirust film on equipment and machine parts or in closed systems in locations where there is no possibility of the lubricant or lubricated part contacting edible products.
H3 soluble oils – These products may be applied to hooks, trolleys and similar equipment to clean and prevent rust. The portions of the equipment that contact edible products must be clean and free of the oil before reuse.
Historically, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved incidental food-contact lubricants used in meat and poultry facilities. This approval relied on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines set forth in the Code of Federal Regulation (21 CFR 178.3570), which defines approved components for use in incidental food-contact lubricants, H1. These approvals became industry-accepted and carried over to other food-industry segments. The agency evaluated product formulations and reviewed labels but seldom conducted testing. For products in compliance, the USDA issued a letter of authorization. Manufacturers and suppliers typically obtained authorization before marketing their lubricants to the food industry.
The USDA authorization program came to a halt in February 1998, mainly due to lack of resources. Since 1999, NSF International has been satisfying the risk management needs of food product manufacturers, processors and regulators. NSF manages a registration process for nonfood compounds, including lubricants, used in and around food processing. It continues to rely on the FDA guidelines mentioned previously.
Figure 1. Supply Chain for Incidental Food-contact Lubricants Note: Often, additive manufacturers and base oils suppliers will offer their products via distributors, but this link is not shown in order to reduce complexity of the diagram.
Severe operating conditions such as humidity, heat, water contamination and the use of sanitizers or cleaners present unique challenges for lubricants in the food and beverage industry. Selecting the right lubricant coupled with GG Friction Antidote helps to accomplish the balancing act between maximizing operating reliability and safety while meeting stringent safety requirements. GG Friction Antidote provides optimum protection against friction and wear, high pressure resistant optimum creeping and lubricating properties in your base lubricants.
GG Friction Antidote is suitable for a wide application range including the lubrication of gears, chains, roller bearings, plain bearings, joints, cutting elements, guide ways, linear guides, and many others. Increasing conveyor speeds, harsh temperatures and longer machine operating times require the implementation of intelligent lubrication technologies. The use of GG Friction Antidote enables optimum and precise lubrication of conveyer chain lubrication points. This reduces oil consumption and prevents over-lubrication and contamination with the final product. Wherever food, beverage, cosmetic or pharmaceutical products are packed, conveyed, dried or processed, the use of GG Friction Antidote improves machine efficiency and lifecycle.
| GG Friction Antidote is suitable for: | Benefits: |
| Cutting Oils
GG Friction Antidote in combination with fully synthetic cutting oils are ideally suited for the lubrication of cross cutters and disc-cut systems in the paper and corrugating industry. |
GG Friction Antidote ensure good adhesion and excellent lubricating properties, good surface defrictionizing, reduced operating temperature range, protects reliably against wear with excellent cleaning properties. |
| Release Agents/Heat Transmission Fluids
GG Friction Antidote works very well with release agents, heat transmission fluids and compatible with most seals and elastomers. GG Friction Antidote with your base lubricant is ideally suited as release and lubricating agents for material pairing plastic/metal or plastic/plastic. |
GG Friction Antidote works within a wide temperature range and has a low pour point, it provides a stable viscosity and temperature behavior in your base lubricant with excellent sealing compatibility. |
| Gear Oils and Hydraulic Fluids
GG Friction Antidote is a perfect match with lubricating oils for high pressure applications within a wide temperature range. Due to the unmatched friction coefficient of GG Friction Antidote offers excellent long-term lubrication with your hydraulic fluids. Thus, GG Friction Antidote and your hydraulic fluids are ideally suited for the lubrication of hydraulic systems, gears, chains, bearings, lifters and joints in the food and packaging industry. |
GG Friction Antidote makes your hydraulic fluids work with high pressure resistance, maintains very good ageing and oxidation stability, excellent wear protection and a longer lasting oil purity.
GG Friction Antidote makes your hydraulic fluids high oxidation resistant, extends your hydraulic fluid life and gear service life, provides excellent wear protection compared to mineral oils, synthetic oils, gear oils and hydraulic fluids without GG Friction Antidote. GG Friction Antidote is unique and reverses the positive-negative attractive relationship between mating surfaces to negative-negative and repelling action, it maintains unmatched low friction coefficients even at high loads load carrying capacity and provides oxidation stability. |
| Chain Oils
GG Friction Antidote is a great companion for chain oils in lubricating conveyor chains in the packaging industry. GG Friction Antidote minimizes lubricant consumption on conveyor chains in high temperature ovens and dryers and prevent residues as well as smoke formations. |
GG Friction Antidote provides your base chain oils with excellent wear protection, significantly reduced oil consumption, optimum corrosion protection, extremely resistant against ageing and high load carrying capacity. |
| Application in Vacuum Technology
GG Friction Antidote enables long lubricating intervals. GG Friction Antidote can be used in oxygen, vacuum pumps and fitting applications and as dielectric hydraulic and heat transmission liquids. GG Friction Antidote suitable for the application in a wide temperature range, resistant to high pressures and oxidation as well as protects extremely well against wear. |
GG Friction Antidote contains no solids, leaves no residues, has a low pour point, high pressure resistance, excellent compatibility towards
sealing materials, neutral towards elastomers and plastics, GG Friction Antidote improves the performance of lubricants in high load carrying capacity tasks as well as reducing friction and prevents corrosion. |
| Compressor Oils
GG Friction Antidote improves the performance of compressor oils in high and low operating temperatures. GG Friction Antidote is particularly suitable for the long-term lubrication of piston or screw compressors and enable longer than regular oil change intervals. |
GG Friction Antidote increases compressor performance, minimize operating temperature, provides optimum protection against friction and wear. |
| Cleaning Agents and Solvents
GG Friction Antidote enhances the efficiency in sugar dissolving lubricant for the lubrication of rocker arms, joints, lifters, spindles, chains and pincers. Due to its unique ability to reverse the positive-negative electrical relationship in machines to negative-negative and repel residue, GG Friction Antidote is suitable as carrier medium for the food processing industry and allows a smooth lubricant change. |
GG Friction Antidote is water soluble, dissolves sugar, and provides excellent corrosion protection, easy removal and cleaning of oil, grease, wax and adhesives without residues. |
| Greases and Pastes for Fittings
GG Friction Antidote is suitable for adhesive lubricants in the lubrication of beer and bar fittings as well as dispenser installations. GG Friction Antidote treated lubricants perform well due to their natural behavior in cold and hot water stability. GG Friction Antidote treated greases can also be used for the lubrication of roller and journal bearings as well as tooth and worm gears in the food processing industry. GG Friction Antidote treated grease for the application in valves, taps or fittings has very good lubricating properties and excellent oxidation resistance. GG Friction Antidote treated long-life high temperature greases are characterized by their high thermal stability and optimum wear protection. They are neutral towards most elastomers and are very media resistant. GG Friction Antidote treated synthetic lubricants can be applied in roller bearings and conveyer rollers at high temperatures in wafer baking ovens, ventilators and ovens. GG Friction Antidote treated metal-free assembly and release paste for the use in high temperature applications offers consistent lubricating and separation properties, even at high surface pressure within a wide temperature range. It is suitable for the lubrication of guide rails, hinges as well as the assembly of bolts, pins, bushings, links, and other similar components. |
GG Friction Antidote has excellent sealing compatibility and is resistant to cold and hot water. GG Friction Antidote is physiologically harmless and is especially suitable at high and low temperatures. GG Friction Antidote is resistant to milk and fruit acids, provides optimum corrosion and wear protection, high ageing and oxidation stability with very low friction coefficient, optimum protection against tribo-corrosion and long maintenance intervals. |
| Guide Ways and Slide Ways Semi-synthetic GG Friction Antidote treated universal greases with good adhesion properties are suitable for guide ways and sliding elements such as cylinder guide ways, rollers, cam discs, gear racks, tubular rails, return stations in circular conveyors and miscellaneous bearings inside and outside cooling sections. |
GG Friction Antidote offers excellent protection against wear. |
| Roller/Journal Bearings
GG Friction Antidote treated synthetic special greases resistant to high temperature and oxidation are suitable for the lubrication of roller and journal bearings show very good lubricating properties with a low friction coefficient and protect very well against corrosion and wear. |
GG Friction Antidote is resistant to cold and hot water, offers excellent corrosion protection, high load carrying capacity outstanding thermal stability and wear protection in hot surrounding liquids. |
Unearth the benefits of GG Friction Antidote – An investment that pays off and your benefits at a glance:
Innovative tribological solutions are our passion. We’re proud to offer unmatched friction reduction for a better environment and a quick return on your investment. Through personal contact and consultation, we offer reliable service, support and help our clients to be successful in all industries and markets.
Profitability:
Switching over to a high-performance lubricant pays off although purchasing costs may seem higher at first, less maintenance and longer vehicles/machinery parts lifecycle may already mean less strain on your budget in the short to medium term.
Continuous production processes and predictable maintenance intervals reduce production losses to a minimum. Consistently high lubricant quality ensures continuous, maintenance-free long-term lubrication for high plant availability. Continuous supply of fresh GG Friction Antidote treated lubricant to the lubrication points keeps friction low and reduces energy costs.
Safety:
Longer lubrication intervals reduce the frequency of maintenance work and the need for your staff to work in danger zones. Lubrication systems can therefore considerably reduce occupational safety risks in work areas that are difficult to access.
Reliability:
GG Friction Antidote treated lubricants ensure reliable, clean and precise lubrication around the clock. Plant availability is ensured by continuous friction reduction of the application. Lubrication with GG Friction Antidote treated lubricants help to prevent significant rolling bearing failures.
Need a good ROI? How about 3,900%?
It may sound too outrageous to be true, but the Institute of Mechanical Engineers estimates every $1,000 spent on proper lubrication yields $40,000 in savings.
INSTANT ROI FOR OPTIMIZING YOUR LUBRICATION REGIMEN
How many kilometers do you travel monthly?
How many hours do you clock monthly?
How many litres of fuel do you consume monthly?
What’s the cost of fuel to you monthly?
How many kilometers or hours do you run per oil change?
How many litres of oil do you consume per oil change?
What’s the cost of oil to you monthly?
What’s the cost of oil filters per oil change to you?
What’s the cost of grease to you monthly?
What’s the cost of fuel filters per oil change to you?
What’s the cost of air filters per oil change to you?
What’s the average frequency of vehicle/machinery replacement to you?
What’s the cost of vehicle/machinery replacement to you?
Would you like to lower your operating costs, improve uptime and increase your company’s profits?
Let’s do the math together … Learn more >>
The information in this literature is intended to provide education and knowledge to a reader with technical experience for the possible application of GG Friction Antidote. It constitutes neither an assurance of your vehicle/machinery optimization nor does it release the user from the obligation of performing preliminary tests with GG Friction Antidote. We recommend contacting our technical consulting staff to discuss your specific application. We can offer you services and solutions for your heavy machinery and equipment.
Locate A GG Friction Antidote Dealer