Abstract: A food grade safety knife includes a safety knife blade, a handle, and a stepped region adjacent the juncture therebetween. The handle is defined by a pair of spaced apart major surfaces that include an enlarged palm portion; a flared end distal to the enlarged palm portion that anchors the safety knife blade, and a neck region intermediate between. The stepped region has a thickness greater than the enlarged palm portion. The stepped region rises in a plurality of discrete steps from the generally planar major surfaces and generally increases in thickness with increasing distance from the enlarged palm portion to a maximum thickness most nearly adjacent to the safety knife blade. At least one of the plurality of steps within the stepped region is provided with at least three generally linear segments each angularly offset from adjacent ones of the at least three generally linear segments.