is this bottle safe for food storage?

sbrichler

Hi,

I am a first time poster and would greatly appreciate your help.

I bought this bottle at a garage sale this weekend for $1. I thought it would be a cool vessel for ginger simple syrup. after boiling & filling it, I started worrying about whether the bottle might contain lead or be otherwise unsafe for food and beverage storage.

the seams appear to go up to the base of the neck. There are no markings I can see. The bottle has an odd sheen to it. I tried my hardest to get it clean but some of the flecks of dirt (?) appear to be embedded in the glass.

thanks for helping out a newcomer!

historic

There are two issues here:

(1) Can lead leach into glass? Excellent question. I am no chemistry expert but I turned to a google search on this lead leaching into glasss search It would appear from reading a bit that using even leaded glass where liquids are stored for relatively short periods of time is safe.

This bottle has no indication of being made of leaded glass. Might it contain lead? Possibly, but unlikely. Also, your contents are not acidic or alcoholic which, from what I understand, would cause greater leaching of lead.

I personally use old bottles to store both liquids and dry items but do not use any items I suspect to be made of lead glass. Such glass is quite heavy (thick) and will have some degree of a ring to it when flicked with a fingernail.

(2) Staining. Your bottle is stained or etched which often occurs from a portion of the glass matrix leaching out - often as a result of the item being buried in the ground or full of a liquid. The only way to remove it is to polish the bottle by a tumbling process.

sbrichler

thank you so much for your detailed, thoughtful response. I feel more comfortable using this bottle for my flavored syrup.

any ideas on the age of this bottle would be appreciated. from what I read on this site, the seams lead me to believe that it may be far older than I thought. thanks again.

BobB

I agree with most all of Historic's good advice but need a mention a couple exceptions. Glass makes a safe storage vessel because it's creation generally creates a smooth, mostly impermuable surface which does not allow contents to soak in. Sanitary problems arise though if that surface has been penetrated, leaving raw & rough surface which can "absorb" contents which can then promote bacteria, etc. Think in terms of what the health department will & will not allow from restaurants, -- chips or cracks in plates, coffee cups are not allowed & have to be thrown out. (Do I note a small crack inside the neck or your bottle?) As for stains & clouding, this is usally from an acidic process of eating away the smooth glass surface, leaving a microscopic roughness, -- that might invite microscopic bacterial activity tht you can't basically scrub away with a soapy bottle brush. Would I store my homemade edibles in your bottle? Probably, especialy anything with very little sugar content and some alcohol (which would probably help retart bacteria). Flavored syrup, not highly sugared, should do well in your bottle. BobB