DETECT: New Food-Safe Material Brings Additive Manufacturing to Food Production

By on January 23rd, 2025 in materials, news

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A drum of DETECT food safe PA11 powder [Source: FABULOUS]

Fabulous announced a new certified material for the Formlabs Fuse 1+ system that is food safe.

The polymer powder material is made by the French company FABULOUS, and it’s called “DETECT”. It’s a type of PA11, made from bio sources, but its most important property is that it is certified as food-safe.

DETECT has achieved food contract certificates EU 10/2011 and FDA CFR 21, meaning parts made from this material can be placed in contact with food in the US and Europe.

The material has several other features that make it ideal for food production purposes. For example, it includes a blue dye that is typically used for optically detected fragments that have separated from the main part. FABULOUS also explains that DETECT includes “polymer-metal composite for metal X-ray detection”, another food safety feature.

Food safety is not just about whether you can touch the material, it’s also about how it can be used in food applications.

Food applications that would be enabled by this material would include any parts that come into regular contact with food. One might immediately think of utensils, plates, and bowls, but in reality, the applications will be piping, filters, extruders, grabbers, and other elements used in food manufacturing systems. These parts will continually touch food and must be made from certified materials.

This development opens up yet another large application area for Formlabs that hadn’t previously been a possibility.

A typical installation might be a Fuse 1+ installed at a food manufacturing plant, where it would be used to replace parts on the production line that periodically wear out or break.

This is a very good move for Formlabs and very likely will work out well for FABULOUS.

Via FABULOUS and Formlabs

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!