Is it Safe to Keep Food in Resealable Plastic Bags?

Every so often questions are raised as to how hygienic the resealable plastic bags that you buy in the supermarket are. These are legitimate questions in some respects, especially questions regarding how long you should store food in them, and whether or not they really are safe to use for freezing food items in.

One thing to remember, when storing food in these resealable bags, is that they are most likely every bit as hygienic as the containers you use to store items in the refrigerator. While they may not be sterile, manufacturers do have to maintain certain standards when making the plastic bags especially regarding the material they make the bags from. Because of this, they are generally quite safe for storing food and safe to use for freezing items in as well. Of course, if you are going to store food in your freezer in resealable plastic bags be sure to buy ones that are specifically designed for this use.

While plastic bags may be fine for storing regular food in the refrigerator, they are not suitable for preserving fruits or vegetables. If you want to preserve fruits and vegetables you need to make sure that you use sterile glass jars such as proper preserving jars that will also seal up so that no air gets in. Air contains bacteria and contaminants so for long term storage such as you would do with preserved foods, you should not use resealable bags.

Another 'no-no' is washing out resealable plastic bags and re-using them all over again for food storage. While it may be fine to reuse these type of bags when you are storing non-food items, it is not such a good idea to do so for food storage. The main reason for this is that it is actually really quite difficult to adequately clean them well enough to do this, and residual food that is left in the bag would soon spoil and then make everything stored in the bag go off. It is fine to wash and reuse plastic containers, but not plastic bags.

In summary, while it is fine to use these bags for storing food items, you should not use them for preserving fruits and vegetables. Nor should you wash and reuse the bags, doing so could cause your food to go off much more quickly, and could even lead to some of your family becoming sick from eating spoiled food.

Article by Scotts Digital - best online marketing companies in Singapore. Specially for Cirrus Culinnaire that specialised in ready to eat italian food in Singapore