What’s the differences? What are they? What are they used for?
Vinegar is acetic acid and distilled water to put it simply.
The difference between food and cleaning is that cleaning is often a higher percentage of acetic acid than food vinegar.
Food grade vinegar is often only 5% acetic acid where as cleaning is usually 6-8% acetic acid. (Although there are exceptions.)
Can I use cleaning vinegar for the same things as food related vinegar?
Personally I wouldn’t. You’d need to heavily dilute it and it definitely cannot be consumed.
Can I use food vinergar for the same things as cleaning vinegar? YES!
You can use it for pickling, flavoring food, cleaning, laundry ect.
But …. There is a dirty ugly truth that is not easily disclosed when it comes to distilled vinegar.
Acetic acid can be synthetically made. Synthetic acetic acid is made through multiple processes
-methanol carbonylation
-oxidation of acetaldehyde, ethanol, butane or butene, or ethylene.
Why does this matter? Because some of these chemicals are petroleum derived.
In fact the primary production of synthetic acetic acid is through using petroleum derived ingredients.
When it comes to buying your vinegar….. another thing to note. The FDA does NOT require labeling to disclose if the vinegar was naturally made through a fermentation process or through a petrochemical process.
Does this mean all vinegar is bad? NO!
The FDA also requires all vinegar for consumption only be made through the natural fermentation process and NOT using synthetic acetic acid.
So what does this mean? If you want to ensure the vinegar you’re using isn’t synthetically made with petrochemicals only buy food grade distilled white vinegar. Optimally you’d want to find a certified organic option to really know for sure that it was not made synthetically. Organic certification would also ensure it was processed without most synthetic chemicals and the feedstock grown without most synthetic pesticides, GMOs, and sewage sludge.. Used for pickling, canning, flavoring that you find in the store in the food isles.
If you want to use cleaning vinegar contact the company to verify how the acetic acid is made and derived. 🫶🏼
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