I enter this conversation w/ some trepidation. These high opinion discussions tend to be emotional. That said, I strongly disagree with your comment that safety takes the fun out of everything. While we as safety professionals may view ourselves as kill-joys, our job is to make stuff happen, safely.
Your observations about food grade LN2 are interesting. I agree, there may be a contamination hazard, but what are the contaminants and what are the associated risks? I agree that transfer dewars may be dirty, but that is an issue much more general than making ice cream. The procedure should be to at least visually inspect the transfer dewar periodically and clean it is necessary.
So, let's define and assess the risks and move on to the ice cream party -
Neal
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From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Reinhardt, Peter
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2016 6:08 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
A review of this practice, Yale's Chemical Safety Committee has concluded that only food-grade liquid nitrogen should be used for this. Food-grade liquid nitrogen is more expensive and is supplied only in larger quantities (150 liters). Food-grade liquid nitrogen must meet more rigorous tolerances for purity. We found only one instance for which this was purchased, so we are in a quandary policy-wise.
We also found that most transfer dewars have debris and other contaminate in them. These can easily end up in the ice cream.
Although we are concerned about purity and contamination, we have not found an instance where this has caused an illness, but we believe the risk exists.
Safety seems to take the fun out of everything. It's what we do.
Pete
Peter A. Reinhardt
Director, Office of Environmental Health & Safety
Yale University
135 College St., Suite 100
New Haven, CT 06510-2411
(203) 737-2123
peter.reinhardt**At_Symbol_Here**yale.edu
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Melissa Anderson
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2016 4:30 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
I have a colleague who's interested in making liquid nitrogen ice cream as an outreach activity and he asked me about safety/risk implications. Does anyone have any experience with this from a risk assessment perspective?
Thanks!
Melissa Anderson
Chemistry Instructor
Pasadena City College
--- This e-mail is from DCHAS-L, the e-mail list of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety. For more information about the list, contact the Divisional secretary at secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
--- This e-mail is from DCHAS-L, the e-mail list of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety. For more information about the list, contact the Divisional secretary at secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
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