Kenji Yano, NSF program manager, told last weeks annual meeting of the National Lubricating Grease Institute in San Diego that old USDA listings will be void after next year. He estimates that more than half the products listed in the final 1998 USDA list are no longer marketed, and many remaining products have undergone formulation and name changes as a result of new product development, new market demands, company mergers, acquisitions and closures.

Under both the old USDA and current NSF programs, food-grade lubricants are approved and listed in three categories. H1 products are approved for food-processing environments where there is a possibility of incidental food contact; H3 products, called soluble oils in the list, are generally formulated with edible oils and are used to prevent rust on equipment. All other lubricants used in locations where there is no possibility of food contact are classed H2, the nonfood contact category. NSF has added categories for lubricant ingredients.

NSF registration, with a maximum cost of $630 per product, includes a review of the products formulation and label by a qualified NSF toxicologist. The review does not currently require product samples. Once registered, the product is listed in the online NSF White Book (www.nsf.org/usda) as well as the print and CD-ROM editions.

The online list yesterday included 2,788 H1 lubricants from 243 manufacturers. The H2 list included an additional 1,857 products from 140 manufacturers; the H3 list had one product. The categories for lube ingredients included 44 products from 17 manufacturers.

NSF has said that more than half of the products listed are NSF-registered; the rest are candidates for removal. A scroll through the list showed that many companies face the choice of registering numerous products with NSF or having them delisted.

For example, ExxonMobil Corp. has a total of 37 H1 products, but only three are NSF-registered. None of ExxonMobil Chemicals 41 H1 lubricants are; likewise, none of Diversey Levers 23 H1 lubricants are. On the other hand, 65 of ChevronTexacos 74 H1 lubricants are NSF-registered, as are 21 of Dow Cornings 26.

Penreco has only five of its 51 H1 products registered, while Petro-Canadas proportion is reversed: 23 of 25 are NSF-registered. Interlube has one of the longest lists of products facing delisting: 126 H1 lubricants, of which none are NSF-registered. Fiske Brothers Refining likewise has a long list of H1 products but nearly half, 52 out of 113, are NSF-registered.

Some companies wont participate in the NSF system, said Michael Raab of Anderol in East Hanover, N.J., whose company has 32 NSF-registered H1 lubes. Every company has the option to have its formulations scrutinized to receive an NSF registration, or it can self-certify, which some companies prefer.

The food processors can accept that self-certification, or they can accept NSF registration, or they can demand the chemistry of our formulations. But many of us consider our formulas confidential; well only reveal them to NSF for their approval. No one is excluded from the business.

There have been no new USDA approvals since 1998, so the USDA list is getting stale, said Eric Peter, president of Behnke Lubricants of Menomonee Falls, Wis., whose company has 60 JAX-branded H1 lubricants, half of which are NSF-registered. I suppose the list should be refreshed. For us its not a big deal, but its a deal. For the little guys it could be a burden.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently accepted a petition from the European Lubricating Grease Institute and the National Lubricating Grease Institute to develop an ISO standard to evaluate food-grade lubricant formulations. This standard will form the basis of a conformity assessment program by an ISO-accredited certification body. The ISO process is expected to take three or four years. NSF has requested to be the group to administer U.S. adoption of the standard on its completion.