Food Safe Gutter
You can safely grow plants in a variety of containers as long.
Food safe gutter. Pvc plastic leaches toxic chemicals. Zinc is not considered a food safe material and it is recommended to avoid contact between food and galvanized surfaces because acidic foods can dissolve zinc. Organic gardening is an environmentally safe way to grow fruits vegetables and other plants. Food must be heated until it is 82c 176f throughout to kill any harmful bacteria and because bacteria can still grow each time food cools back down you shouldn t reheat a meal more than once.
The preferred location should receive at least four hours of sunlight as noted in the article gardening in the gutter literally by shilo urban with the urban authority. The types of rain gutter most often used for gutter gardening are made of vinyl or aluminum. But is it safe to use around food plants. Even xinhua the government s news agency called gutter oil the most nerve jittery problem of late concerning food safety and one that showed a really nasty reality of chinese food.
Gutter oil or illicit cooking oil that has been recycled from waste oil collected from restaurant fryers drains grease traps and slaughterhouse waste from table to table has emerged as a serious food safety issue in china and exposed the shortcomings of china s food safety assurance systems. Safe containers for organic gardening. My best suggestion is to use food grade or food safe materials for all surfaces that come in contact with the plants and the hydroponic solution. You also need to consider that whilst metals do leach if you preserve the gutters with some form of chemical paint or other coating this too may contribute to the problem of food.
Grow shallow root plants such as radish spinach and strawberries. Based on all the research papers i ve read i believe it s clear pvc is a toxic material that has no place in an organic garden or anywhere. The sources of this oil are restaurant fryers sewers and leftover or used oil that is sold. Food safety incidents in 2014 gutter oil scandal.
All plastics can leach toxic substances to some degree given the right conditions there are however safer plastics than others. We always recommend checking with the manufacturer about the food safe status.