Food Grade chemicals?

Rory_22257

Hey, I can't order certain things from amazon because I live in New Zealand. I recently saw a recipe that had "Phosphoric Acid - Food Grade" as an ingredient. I reached out to a local lab chemicals supplier and they responded as follows:

"We have no opinion on whether the specification meets your requirement for food grade."

And then attached the following fact sheet:

Phosphoric acid 40701 AR grade 85%

Specification
Assay 85.0% w/w min
Colour (APHA) 10 max
Hg 0.01 ppm Max
Cd, Pb 0.5 ppm Max
As, Cu, Ni 2 ppm Max
Fe 10 ppm Max
Cl 50 ppm Max
SO4 100 ppm Max
H.M (as Pb) 10 ppm Max
Conforms to BP
Formula H3PO4 MWT 98.00
CAS 7664-38-2
UN Number 1805 DG Class 8; Packing Group III
Alternate name: Orthophosphoric acid
Warning of Risk - corrosive acid - causes burns
SAFETY:-Keep container tightly closed and dry.In case of contact with eyes, rinse immediately with plenty of water and seek medical advice.
In case of accident or if you feel unwell, seek medical advice immediately (show the label whenever possible).

Can anyone tell me if this is food grade or not? Is "AR Grade" mean that it is automatically "Food Grade"???

Thanks

Brendan_Lee_56950

From what I understand AR grade means it's an analytical reagent, meaning it's of a high enough purity to do chemical analysis work but that does not guarantee food grade. The EU code for food grade phosphoric acid is E338 so you could seek it out with that specific code and that would guarantee that it would meet the food grade standards. The biggest concerns with lab grade chemicals are heavy metals, which obviously are harmful in food applications.