Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1
Why are so many people concerned about food grade containers to grow things in when the big majority of the hoses they water with aren't?
Worth
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That is a good point, Worth -- and does concern me. Mostly, I think the concern is about long term exposure to the surfaces. I try to minimize that by running some water through the hoses for some other purpose before I use them on food plants -- but food plants in containers have continual exposure to whatever the container is made of and I can't think of any good way to minimize it.
If the hoses, their fittings, and the containers were made in the US -- really in the US -- I'd have more confidence that there was at least some manufacturing desire not to include dangerous elements. By contrast, I saw a recent piece by some western reporter who'd been in China with an official visitor there, who asked a spokesman about pollution generated by a new steel plant that had apparently caused massive fish death and presumable compromise of safe food status of the surviving fish . He got an answer along the lines that steel plants were important and it wasn't in the national interest to answer the reporter's question, but he would discuss it privately, off the record, if desired.
In the circumstances, the only thing I know to do is to try to use as many components as possible that are certified OK for food use. Last time I checked, for example, Home Depot's buckets did have the code that allegedly indicates that they are safe for such purposes.