Stainless steel is the most widely used material in the food and beverage industry.
Stainless steel’s high corrosion resistance and durability, as well as some of its physicochemical properties, make it an ideal material for food processing, storage and presentation. At Tisco steel, we believe it is important to carefully select the grade of stainless steel for each application.
The advantage and importance of choosing the right food stainless steel is that it can comply with regulations and standards, as well as upholding high standards of quality and hygiene.
Stainless steel in the food industry
At Tisco steel, we offer our customers more than 50 different grades of stainless steel, all iron-based alloys containing at least 10.5% chromium, plus other additives for corrosion resistance, heat resistance and malleability.
In the case of our customers in the food and food processing industry, there are 3 main types of stainless steel they use.
304 and 316 grade stainless steel.
These first two are used for containers and pipes and they are austenitic stainless steels, meaning they consist of 16-25% chromium and up to 35% nickel.
Grade 430 stainless steel
This steel is food grade and contains between 16-18% chromium and is used for applications where less corrosion resistance is required. It is commonly used in industrial equipment, panels, table tops, utensils, sinks, cladding, refrigeration components, filters, etc.
Properties and characteristics of 430 food grade stainless steel
430 stainless steel is part of the ferritic steel family and as we have mentioned in previous articles it has a decent resistance to corrosion and acids, it is magnetic and has a little malleability so we do not recommend it for welding.
Another advantage of 430 stainless steel properties is that it is less costly than 304 or 316 stainless steel.
If it meets your requirements and you decide to use 430 stainless steel in your process, please contact us for a quote or more information. At Tisco steel, we have dedicated technical staff to provide personalised advice.