Non-food-grade warehousing is industrial storage for products that are not intended for human or animal consumption: steel, lumber, packaging, electronics, machinery, plastics and general industrial goods. It does not carry the sanitation programs, pest-control regimes, allergen controls or third-party food safety audits that food-grade facilities must maintain, which generally makes it less expensive and more widely available.
What you give up and what you save
Food-grade facilities carry documented sanitation schedules, pest control programs, temperature and humidity logs, allergen segregation and audit certifications. Those programs cost money, and they are irrelevant to a coil of steel or a pallet of corrugated.
What you should still require
Non-food-grade does not mean uncontrolled. A dry building, a sound roof, working dock equipment, accurate inventory records, appropriate security and correct sprinkler classification for your commodity all still matter.
Where the line gets blurry
Food-contact packaging is a common edge case: the product is packaging, but its end use touches food, so some customers require food-grade handling even though the material is not food itself. Clarify the requirement with your customer before sourcing space.
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