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Is Linseed Oil Food Safe? (All You Need to Know)

You might have heard of using linseed oil on painting surfaces to make the finish transparent and glossy. You can also mix the linseed oil with your paint to add it as a pure liquid. It will give you the best glossy finish paint in every sense. 

However, you cannot use this oil on every surface. You have to know where to use the linseed oil safely and where you cannot. Especially when you have raw linseed oil, you need to be more careful.

Is linseed oil food safe?

Linseed oil is food safe. You can use this oil on all the food surfaces and make them glossy and look beautiful. Also, the raw linseed oil is edible, although it’s not entirely safe for the human body. If you have a food cutting board, you can apply the linseed oil to make it glossy.

You will find different uses of different linseed oils since the linseed oil has some variations. Some are good for the dry surface; others may be good for the food cutting boards. You may also find some linseed oil that is not safe for the human body or food.

Only if you have raw linseed oil can you safely use it on food boards or food-related surfaces. It is entirely safe for human consumption. So, if you don’t have any other options and only have the raw linseed oil, you can use it safely on all surfaces. 

This oil will make things glossy and food safe.

Boiled linseed oil:

Since the boiled linseed oil is heated with different chemicals, the boiled linseed oil is not food safe. You cannot use it on cutting boards or consume it like raw linseed oil. 

It has toxic chemicals that can damage your health and food quality. Therefore, you must avoid using boiled linseed oil.

Refined linseed oil:

The refined linseed oil is food safe, and you can use it on food-safe wood surfaces to cut your fruits and other foods. The refined linseed oil doesn’t have any extra toxic chemicals to harm your health and ruin the food’s quality.

Polymerized linseed oil:

The polymerized linseed oil is food safe since it doesn’t have any chemicals or added ingredients that will ruin your food quality. Since it is entirely secure, you can use it on the food cutting board. 

It will also dry soon and become the best glossy boards that are food safe.  

Purified linseed oil:

The purified linseed oil is entirely food safe. You can use it for human consumption safely. But the purified linseed oil must come without the additives chemicals. You cannot use anything else to preserve or purify the linseed oil. 

Diggers raw linseed oil:

The diggers raw linseed oil is food safe. But it is not safe for consumption. You can use the diggers raw linseed oil on wood and other surfaces to reduce the risk of damaging the surface. 

You should apply the digger raw linseed oil if you have the wood cutting board.

Jasco boiled linseed oil:

The Jasco boiled linseed oil is not entirely food safe. It has added chemicals and toxic ingredients that might damage the board’s health and give some chemicals to your foods. 

Therefore, you cannot consume it or use it on food surfaces.

Klein strip boiled linseed oil:

The Klein strip boiled linseed oil is not food safe. You can use it on wood surfaces and other areas to seal and get a glossy finish, but it will not give you the best or safest surface to cut foods. 

You should avoid using it on food cutting boards and try to use the raw linseed oil.

Is boiled linseed oil food safe when dry?

The boiled linseed oil is food safe when dry. But you cannot consume it raw or on your fruits because it contains toxic chemicals when it is boiling. Therefore, it’s recommended not to use the boiled linseed oil on your cutting wood boards.

If you use the boiled linseed oil over the cutting board or other surfaces where you put fruits and foods, you must dry it properly. It will be better to use the direct sunlight to use the boiled linseed oil. It will be food-safe, and you can keep whatever you want.

Before that, you must try to use the regular linseed oil on your cutting board and other food surfaces. It will give you the safest feeling to use for your foods and other ingredients. You can dry it for an hour and start using it directly without any problem.

But the boiled linseed oil must be dry enough, and you should clean the surface before starting to use it for the foods. Otherwise, the toxic chemicals might go through the foods and damage the food quality.

Can you use linseed oil on cutting boards?

You can use the linseed oil on cutting boards safely. You can safely apply the linseed oil if you have wood cutting boards by following some tips. Your cutting boards must be cleaned enough, and you should use the regular linseed oil and avoid the boiled one.

It will be food-safe after you dry it properly. If you have boiled linseed oil, you cannot use it on your cutting boards. You must be sure about the raw linseed oil and use it according to the painting role. 

You will get a fresh and smooth cutting board after using the linseed oil. It will give you the glossy cutting board that you will love to use for cutting fruits and veggies.

Is linseed oil toxic to humans?

Linseed oil is not toxic to humans. When it comes to linseed oil, people get anxious about whether or not it is harmful. In its purest form, Linseed oil is a method that is risk-free, dependable, and kind to the environment. 

According to the vast majority of reliable authorities, it does not appear to be poisonous. Raw, polymerized, and boiling linseed oil are the three distinct varieties available. None of them are poisonous.

“3” reasons why linseed oil is not food safe 

For some reason, linseed oil is not food safe, as I already explained above. But. Here you will get the exact reasons.

Toxic Chemicals:

Consumption of raw linseed oil by humans is not harmful. However, boiling linseed oil is subjected to high temperatures and chemical processing that renders it unsafe for human consumption. 

Heating oil’s high in essential fatty acids, like linseed oil, can change the good fats in the oil into fats that are bad for you.

Thus, it is important to avoid heating these oils at high temperatures. Woodworkers prize linseed oil for its lustrous finish and its ability to repel moisture. Because it is an organic oil, rancidification is a potential drawback.

Mildew:

Linseed oil is a feeding source for mildew. Because linseed oil has not been fully denatured, using it may promote the growth of mildew rather than inhibiting it.

Heavy Metals:

If you use this product as food or in food preparation, you will put yourself at risk of being exposed to arsenic, beryllium, chromium, cadmium, and nickel, all of which are known to cause cancer. 

You will also be put at risk of being exposed to lead, which is known to cause congenital disabilities and other reproductive harm.

What happens if I ingest linseed oil?

If you ingest unsafe linseed oil, you will face the below things. 

Nutrition:

Consuming linseed oil is not always bad for your health. When you do it, you will get some solid nutrition. Linseed oil is a drying oil, which means that it has the potential to polymerize and become solid over time. 

So, if you consume linseed oil, it can offer you health benefits such as Omega – 3 (fatty acid). 

Lowering Blood Sugar:

When linseed oil is consumed, it has the potential to assist in the lowering of blood sugar levels. Taking these supplements needs to be approached with caution if you have diabetes or another ailment that affects your blood sugar levels. 

Skin Problems:

Although it has a high absorption rate across biological membranes like those found in the digestive tract and the skin, linseed oil is known to have powerful allergens and can irritate the skin because of these properties. 

Because of toxicological concerns regarding the additives in boiled linseed oil, there is much advice in the medical literature against using it. Consuming linseed oil can aggravate the symptoms of health issues related to the skin.

Final Thoughts

Linseed oil is only food safe if you use the raw or regular version. But the boiled linseed oil is not entirely food safe. You must dry the surface using direct sunlight to make the linseed oil surface food safe. If you have the cutting boards, you must use the raw or regular oil to make it safe.