Question from Adica
Hi Debra,
I sew a lot of gifts for people, and while I was looking for ideas recently, I found a post on a blog about safe materials to use in sandwich bags. I don’t know about your own thoughts about the safety of the materials she recommends (homemade beeswax or oil cloth sounds safe, but I’m unsure about the polyurethane-coated nylon), but I think it’s important to spread this around because I’ve seen a lot of sellers on Etsy selling snack bags that have PUL or vinyl cloth on the inside, which I know aren’t safe. It’s good to support local and small businesses but not when they’re selling you things that could compromise your health.
http://4girlsdesignsblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/reusable-sandwich-bags-and-wraps-are.html
I was wondering how you felt about the polyurethane-coated nylon she recommends. She says, “After talking to many manufacturers of this product, we understand that this type of coated nylon is free of heavy metals and phthalates. The tests revealed that the nylon is free of heavy metals (including lead), phthalates, PBBs, and PBDEs.” I remember you saying that not all forms of polyurethane are as toxic as others (but then, this is for food), so I was wondering about this type.
Debra’s Answer
Well…food-safe plastics came up elsewhere today…I’ll repeat what I said here…
Here’s a simple article that defines “food grade plastics”: ehow: How Do I Tell if it’s Food Grade Plastic? The basic criteria is that plastics used to package food must be of high quality and cannot contain harmful dyes or chemicals. Then the article goes on to list the seven types of food grade plastic and their recycling symbols. They are PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS, and other.
The problem is many of these plastics DO contain harmful chemicals, particularly polystyrene and PVC. I don’t consider these to be food safe at all!
I think the key issue here is are the materials intended to be used for contact with food. I read your link and she says PUL is not food safe and makes the case for that. But then she says polyurethane-lined nylon is safe. But polyurethane isn’t on any list of food-safe plastics that I know of.
PUL, by the way, is short for PolyUrethane Laminate, which is a fabric that has been heat-laminated to a layer of polyurethane.
So her logic doesn’t hold up for me.
