Styles · Hygienic or food-safe

Sell hygienic or food-safe plastic pallets

A hygienic or food-safe pallet is cleanable and made of resin suited to food or pharma docks. No federal body approves pallet models, so a buyer asks for resin and colourant paperwork.

Last reviewed November 12, 2026

Send a lot

Hygienic or food-safe: the drawn pallet to inspect

Hygienic or food-safe: the specs

Direct contact: Stricter federal requirements may call for non-blended virgin HDPE
Colour options: FDA-approved colours offered on some models
Used 48x40 example: Listed pharma and food safe but not approved for direct food contact
Note: FDA does not approve pallet models; ask the supplier for resin and colourant documentation.

How a buyer reads hygienic or food-safe pallets

For products touching the pallet directly, stricter federal requirements may call for non-blended virgin HDPE, while recycled pallets often meet general FDA needs. FDA-approved colours are offered on some models. A used 48 x 40 example is listed as pharma and food safe but not approved for direct food contact, in colours that vary.

The statement the buyer wants is who made the pallet and what it is made of. FDA does not approve pallet models. Ask the supplier for the resin and colourant documentation, and put whatever you have into the form.

A pallet that has been in a chemical or a food plant may be read by its history. Say where it has been.

Who has hygienic or food-safe pallets to sell

What to send with a hygienic or food-safe lot

Where the pallets have been used
Resin and colour documents, if you have them
Whether the deck is open or closed
Whether they have been washed or sanitised

Choose the style in the pile sorter and it will draw the stack as that style, then carry your answers into the form below.

SOLD

Hygienic or food-safe pallets that are whole, clean and unmarked.

RETURN

Hygienic or food-safe pallets carrying a pool name, logo or RFID tag.

SCRAP

Hygienic or food-safe pallets with cracked, burnt or crushed decks.

Can plastic pallets be used for food?

Some models are made for it. Direct contact may need virgin HDPE; general use often accepts recycled content. The maker's paperwork says which.

Is a closed deck more hygienic?

A closed deck keeps small items from falling through and is easier to wash, but a pallet is not made hygienic by its deck alone.

Words you will meet

Closed deck: Solid top deck with no gaps; keeps small items from falling through.
Lip: Raised edge on the deck, or an optional soft lip, that keeps the load in place.
Compression moulding: Moulding by pressing resin in a closed mould; one of six processes in use.
Anti-slip: Textured deck or rubber grommets that reduce load slip.
Structural foam: Low-pressure moulding where a blowing agent expands the resin in the mould.
Rotational moulding: Resin heated in a rotating mould to make a hollow jointless part.
4-way entry: Forks or a jack can enter from all four sides.
2-way entry: Forks enter from two opposite sides only.
Injection moulding: Pallet made by forcing molten resin into a mould at high pressure.
Profile extrusion: Pushing resin through a die to make long shapes that form pallet parts.
Resin identification code: Number on a plastic part for the resin, which does not itself say whether it is recyclable.
PP: Polypropylene. More rigid than HDPE and better with heat and harsh chemicals; used where rack stiffness matters.
Virgin resin: New, unblended resin that has not been through a product before.
Recycled-content pallet: A pallet moulded partly or wholly from post-industrial or post-consumer resin.
Open deck: Top deck with gaps between slats or ribs; lighter and drains.
Picture frame: A raised rim around the deck edge that keeps cartons from sliding off.

Who asks, and what they need

Food and beverage distributors and bottlers: Clean, odour-free, washable pallets; open or closed deck; 56 x 44 beverage and 48 x 40 sizes; often asks about food-contact paperwork.
Pharmaceutical and healthcare shippers: Hygienic pallets that can be sanitised; documents on resin and colour; PP sometimes preferred for sterilisation.
Plastic recyclers and pallet makers: Buy broken pallets by weight as HDPE or PP feedstock; want clean, sorted, separated by resin and colour.

What the sources say

For products touching the pallet directly, stricter federal requirements may call for non-blended virgin HDPE; recycled pallets often meet general FDA needs. (nelsoncompany.com)
That used pallet is listed as pharma and food safe but not approved for direct food contact, in colours that vary. (nelsoncompany.com)
Rehrig Pacific's rackable pallet has a two-piece snap-lock design for quick repair and options for FDA-approved colours, RFID and up to 15 percent black recycled content. (rehrigpacific.com)
Rehrig Pacific's heavy-duty nestable can be made with post-consumer or post-industrial recycled material, up to 30 percent in black and up to 10 percent in colour, and is RFID compatible. (rehrigpacific.com)
About 500 million pallets are made each year as of 2020, with about 2 billion in use in the US. (en.wikipedia.org)
The International Fire Code permits pallets listed and labeled under FM 4996 or UL 2335 to be treated as wood pallets for sprinkler design. (iccsafe.org)
HDPE has resin identification code 2, a density of 930 to 970 kg/m3, melts at 131.8 C and is hard to glue, so joints are usually welded. (en.wikipedia.org)
Resin identification codes do not indicate whether a product is recyclable; ASTM D7611 governs the coding. (en.wikipedia.org)
EPA's 2018 municipal solid waste data: plastics generation was 35.68 million tons, of which 3.09 million tons (8.7 percent) were recycled and 26.97 million tons landfilled; natural HDPE bottles were recycled at 29.3 percent. The page gives no pallet-specific or polypropylene figure. (epa.gov)
States where food manufacturing is the largest share of private jobs in 2025 (BLS QCEW): Nebraska (4.9%), Arkansas (4.7%), Iowa (4.6%), Alaska (3.4%), Wisconsin (3.2%); the national share is 1.33%. (data.bls.gov)
USDA APHIS lists plastic pallets among products not subject to APHIS regulation, as an alternative to wood packaging material. (aphis.usda.gov)
Rehrig Pacific offers the standard-duty nestable with recycled content of up to 90 percent in black, and describes it as 100 percent recyclable. (rehrigpacific.com)
A used Nelson 48 x 40 x 6.3 in HDPE one-piece pallet weighs 49 lb with 30,000 lb static, 5,000 lb dynamic and 2,200 lb racking ratings. (nelsoncompany.com)
Pallet capacities are issued by the manufacturer from calculation and lab or field tests, and assume an evenly distributed load. (nelsoncompany.com)
Freezing can make some pallet materials brittle and reduce performance. (nelsoncompany.com)
An ICC article says unlisted plastic pallets may require raising the commodity hazard class by two classes, and gives an example needing about 55 percent more sprinkler water. (iccsafe.org)

Keep reading

Receiving desk

Send the lot

Size, count, grade, branding and ZIP. Photos help, and you can reply to the first answer with them. This site states no price or pickup date.