Is tung oil containing aliphatic hydrocarbons a food-safe finish?
Michael Dresdner: “Food-safe” is a legal definition, and this is just a woodworking website. To advertise something as food-safe, you must get FDA approval. That does not mean that coatings lacking such approval are harmful; merely that no one bothered to get the legal blessing. In any case, aliphatic hydrocarbons are solvents that evaporate during the coating’s drying process. They are not part of the cured finish, and thus have no impact on whether the final finish is or is not food-safe.
