Is Proofgrade Maple Plywood Food Safe?

Looking at doing some swizzle sticks that are etched and cut from the proofgrade maple plywood. I haven’t found any posts that confirm if they are food safe for that use, only that in the case of cutting boards, sealing with a food safe oil will help.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

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Unlikely.

Hardwood sealed with food-safe finish would be, but not cut edges of plywood. Also, PG ply is pre-finished, and you can’t put oil over an existing finish to make it “safe”.

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I don’t think the Friendly Neighborhood Lawyers (FNLs) will let Glowforge anywhere near that question. I personally wouldn’t use plywood for that sort of application – too many nooks and crannies for bacteria to hide in, and the MDF in the middle will melt into goo with too much exposure to liquids.

You also won’t get them to endorse food safety for their acrylic, but that’s what I’d use if I were making swizzle sticks. :slight_smile:

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I’d go with acrylic, but if you need a wooden look use unfinished hardwood, a temperate, not a tropical, species. Maple or oak would be good choices. Then sand off all the char. Alcohol, as I’m sure we all remember from high school chemistry, is the universal organic solvent. The alcohol in the drink will leach out the compounds of the char. Maybe it will add a harmless smoky flavor, like from a charred oak barrel, or maybe it won’t be so harmless. They char barrels at a much lower temperature than the laser, so the compounds produced by your glowforge could be different.

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