Mylar Safety
 

The first time I heard of Mylar it was at this site, I did some basic research and found out that Mylar as most of you probably know is somewhat of a polyester sheeting with aluminum added to keep gases out (or in). My questions is how safe is Mylar for long term food storage? This site seems to think it isn't safe at all saying

WHY SHOULDN'T YOU USE MYLAR BAGS TO STORE YOUR FOODS?

When mylar disintegrates it turns back into formaldehyde. According to the platics industry, mylar is made with Polyethylene Terephthalate. Formaldehyde is used to embomb bodies after death and is poison to a living being. There are many references online linking Polyethylene Terephthalate to Formaldehyde.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

Believe what you want. I'd say they are trying to move people to their products. Also there are cheaper people selling the same thing out there.

PM me if you want a reference.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

I suggest the old canning method. Mason jars.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

Thanks for bringing up the mylar point. I had that question. I guess I need to do some research!

Re: Mylar Safety
 

As an aside, Anheuser Busch, I Have been told, puts fromaldehyde in thier beer (at least for sales to the US Military) so it will stay "fresh" longer on an unrefridgerated shelf...

Re: Mylar Safety
 

This turned up in the first page of a google search. You could easily have checked it yourself to be sure you had accurate information.

Yahoo Answers

Safety and/or toxicity of mylar bags for long-term food storage?

My family has been working on a plan for stocking up our pantry with several months worth of food (and more than that, because we want to be able to help family and neighbors in case they might need food as well). We just bought a case of 5-gallon bucket-sized mylar food storage bags for bulk items such as rice, beans and grains, but in perusing various food storage sites, I came across this page:

http://www.yourfoodstorage.com/faq

Check out the answer to the question "WHY SHOULDN'T YOU USE MYLAR BAGS TO STORE YOUR FOODS?" I've never heard this about mylar and can't imagine that it would be so widely used for food storage if in fact it broke down into toxic chemicals over time. Is this for real, or is this just a marketing gimmick by this site to get people to order their cans of dehydrated food instead of making and storing our own?

* 10 months ago

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Mylar is a Biaxially-oriented Polyethylene terephthalate (boPET)). These or any other equivalent plastics are completely inert, in other words do not react with anything.

They last for a very long time and if any formaldehyde is formed when then decompose, it would be very little, not enough to be toxic.

They are suitable for archival quality storage of food, important documents and even banknotes.

Keep in mind that children's No Tear shampoo does contain formaldehyde in large amounts. The site you posted is not telling the truth about Mylar.

* 10 months ago

Re: Mylar Safety
 

I read that on Yahoo answers but I wanted more than one persons opinion before I put my families food supply in something possibly tainted.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

I have 50' vacuum sealer rolls from sealerbags.com. Why not use them and pull a hard vacuum unlike mylar.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

When I do 5 gal buckets, with mylar bags this is what I do.

I get the vacuum cleaner ready with the 'crevice tool' attached. I toss in some oxy-sorbers, then the product to half full, more oxy's then fill the pail.

Add more oxys. Seal the bag on a 2x4 leaving 2" open at the end. The wife then inserts the crevice tool and turns on the vacuum. As soon as it sucks down we turn off the vac and remove the tool. I then seal the rest of the bag.

Works great.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

I checked out their website. The sealerbags.com website says "heavy-duty 3 layer 3.5 mil bags save freezer burn", and they are correct. It helps minimize freezer burn. The clear flexible food saver type bags & roll material from sealerbags.com, sorbentsystems.com, Butcher & Packer (my favorite source) are great to use when freezing stuff. They are NOT good for long term storage of oil containing materials that go rancid due to oxygen exposure (nuts, whole wheat flour,....). I use them when freezing boneless chicken breasts & shredded cheese I buy when they're on sale. I also use them for freezing chunks of pizza dough (which makes it easy to make homemade pizzas on short notice).

Yes, these nylon/polyethylene layered bags are much better than the normal cheap polyethylene sandwich baggie type stuff in terms of oxygen permeability. That being said, they are nowhere near as good as a 3.5 or 7 mil thick mylar storage bag. That's why you see the LDS church supplying & packaging long term stores in either metal cans or heavy duty mylar pouches.

The sealerbags type material is also a LOT more permeable to spice smells/volatiles than mylar bags. I just bought a bunch of vanilla beans & saffron from saffron.com (shameless plug for a good seller of vanilla & saffron), and the vanilla beans come packed in a clear vacuum packed bag (nylon/PE laminate). You could really smell vanilla even through the sealed bag. If you can smell it, then stuff can get out of the bag (& into the bag). I repacked it (for storage & some for Christmas gifts) into 7 mil thick mylar pouches. No more smell. I also repacked the bulk spices I'd bought from Butcher & Packer (supplied in non-vacuumed nylon/PE sealerbags type material). As with the vanilla, no more smell. This should help extend the shelf life of stored spices....I hope!

I think that Sorbent Systems has oxygen permeability specs on many of their bag materials on their website, if you'd like to look.

It is possible to get a "hard vacuum" on mylar pouches. You'd need to use either a "snorkel" type or a commercial chamber type vacuum sealer.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

That is really not necessary if you use adequate o2 absorbers. I like using the 1/2 gallon jars since there is NO o2 permeability, and yes I usually do both, but I do everything in overkill mode.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

Agreed - if you're using mylar pouches, there's no need to vacuum out the air if you're using a big enough O2 absorber. I'll still do it with some stuff, so the finished bag takes up less space.

If you're using the clear nylon/PE pouches, even O2 absorbers will get nuked (eventually) by the oxygen permeating through the plastic film.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

Max Rebel:

Like the avatar btw.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

Any opinions on this machine from costco:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...28508*&topnav=

I'm assuming this would work with the bags from Butcher Packer. Would this also work with mylar bags (I assume yes)?

TIA!

Re: Mylar Safety
 

Mylar requires more heat than the foodsaver type bags...Unless they specifically state or have settings for mylar, I wouldn't trust it. My foodsaver is an older unit, so maybe the more expensive units like that are better.

I tested this with my foodsaver and the results were NOT good, definitely harder than it needed to be. Heck, and Iron and a 2x4 is much better than the foodsaver with mylar.

http://www.sorbentsystems.com/hotjaw.html

I tried to get one of these from HF to try, but they were on backorder. May try again.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=43477

In the end, I like jars better, but you already knew that.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

Budweiser is total schwag with or without the mylar. That whole "born on" thing is the stupidest thing ever.

Real beer in a glass bottle will not go bad unrefrigerated. Many improve with age, much like wine. :beer:

Re: Mylar Safety
 

Thwy don't retain the vacuum as long as mylar and oxygen absorbers. The bags are also more prone to get tiny holes with pointy things like rice & pasta.

There's a reason why mylar is used by packing companies. It is the best option at present. Food grade mylar is better quality.

Re: Mylar Safety
 

I've worn out 3 with low to moderate use.