What makes a tanker food grade?

I was working for Keith Hall and Sons back then.

 

Ok, looks like they got bought out by Contrans. Just recently saw a Contrans truck in that Keith Hall red that had a "KH" truck number. They haul sucrose to the stops I mentioned.

 

Ya they didn't waste any time rebranding them

 

We're veering off into "lunch counter territory" here.

The rabbi isn't there to pray.

I brought a load of liquid sucrose to a Coca Cola plant and was told to "see the rabbi" before I hooked up.

So the rabbi checks my paperwork, asks about some items on the wash ticket, asks if the trailer was used to haul milk, etc.

Then he says go ahead and hook up and start pumping. I asked if he had to pray first. He looked at me as if I was kidding, then laughed and said no, go ahead and start pumping.

So I asked why he was there, and I'll give you the overview.

People who keep kosher keep meat and dairy separate, as in they use one set of dishes only for meat, and another only for dairy.

So, as far as food grade tanks, if you haul a dairy product in a tank, it has to have a "regular" hot water washout, then a "conversion" wash with caustic detergent, then another "regular" wash to make sure there's no detergent residue in the tank.

The tank is now kosher certified.

If there's a kosher certification at a plant, it means at least once a year a rabbi visits the plant to make sure there is no cross-contamination or co-mingling of kosher and non-kosher ingredients at any step in the process.

That's the overview. There's small points and certain exceptions, and places to look online if you want to delve into this subject.


We were making kosher Coca-Cola. It comes out especially around Passover. The bottles have yellow caps.

 

Learn something new every day. Now that’s interesting.

And I assume rabbis are the only people okayed to do this certification?

 

Yes. The rabbis are the guys who know all the kosher rules.

The kosher rules are Jewish dietary laws.

There are several organizations that oversee kosher certification, all made up of rabbis.

 

I’ve heard there was some 20/20 show years ago that did a story about the tanker business. Basically followed them around showing guys delivering chemicals then loading food products like orange juice on the same tank, using the same hoses, etc. Apparently there was quite an uproar which led to the separation we see now where tanks run either food grade products or chemicals but rarely if ever in the same equipment. I’m not sure if a.) there’s actually any truth to it because I’ve never seen the show myself and b.) whether there is actually some legislation that dictates a separation between the two, or if it’s just an industry standard thing.

That said, you typically see these types of trailers in food grade service.
Walker | Food Grade Tank Trailers

Whereas with chemical trailers you typically see standard dot407 tanks like this:
Brenner | Chemical Stainless Tank Trailers

I’m not familiar enough all the intricacies of design/construction to tell you what makes them different from one another other than 407 tanks are able to haul hazmat.

There are certainly exceptions to the rule as well, which have probably been explained in the replies above me.

 

I am surprised no one has mentioned the requirement for the Food Grade Only letters above the inlet.

 

Never knew that was a requirement or even noticed it. I have noticed some food grade tanks that have a specific Kosher marking on them. None of our tanks have that marking despite hauling Kosher loads so maybe it's not a requirement.

 

I suppose it depends on the chemical, or what one defines as a chemical. Technically, water is a chemical even though we may not think of it as such.

We haul placarded hazmat chemical in our food grade tanks, but those chemicals are derived from edible products (final product definitely isn't though) so maybe that gets a pass.