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A wine glass and a fork, marking material safe for food contact.
Also known as: Glass and fork symbol, Food contact symbol, Cup and fork symbol, Food grade symbol
A wine glass beside a fork marks a material as safe to come into contact with food. Unlike almost every other mark on the underside of a container, this one is defined in law — and it is about the material, not about heating it.
Is defined in law rather than by convention: European Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 on food contact materials sets out what the mark means, so applying it is a regulated claim rather than a manufacturer's assurance.
Symbolwise cites the regulation through reference works reporting it rather than having read the instrument directly, so this is not typed as an official definition.
Contexts: Packaging
Indicates that the material is suitable for contact with food and will not transfer harmful substances into it.
Contexts: Packaging
Says nothing about heat. A container can be food-safe and still deform, melt or leach when microwaved or put through a dishwasher — those are separate claims carried by separate marks.
The most common misreading of this symbol, and the one with practical consequences.
Contexts: Packaging
Is required where the suitability is not obvious from the object itself: a dinner plate does not need it, but a plastic tub or a roll of film does.
Contexts: Packaging
Is a claim about the material and not about heat. It says a container, utensil or film is made of something fit to come into contact with food without transferring harmful substances to it; it says nothing about whether the item may go in an oven, a microwave or a dishwasher, each of which is a separate mark.
Contexts: Packaging
Is found moulded into the base of plastic containers and printed on the packaging of cling film, storage boxes, food bags and single-use tableware. Where a product is sold in the European Union or Great Britain the marking sits alongside a legal duty on the manufacturer, so its absence on food packaging is worth noticing.
European Union and Great Britain · Contexts: Packaging
Related forms that are not treated as separate canonical symbols — see our variant rules.
Wine glass and fork
The commonest drawing: a stemmed glass beside a fork. Some manufacturers draw a tumbler instead, which carries no different meaning.
A stemmed wine glass shown beside a fork with its tines pointing upward, both drawn in simple outline.
Both appear on the base of the same container and are routinely read as one assurance. Food-safe is about the material; microwave-safe is about heating it, and only the first is defined in law.