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If you&#;re in the commercial food industry, you should always be aware of the temperature limits of the plastic food wrap you use and whether it&#;s microwave safe.
There is little doubt that plastic food wrap has become one of the most important tools in the commercial food industry. The Covid pandemic underlined the need for safety from airborne pathogens and viruses, and plastic food wrap is vital in the battle to ensure the safety of the food we eat.
But every commercial food handler should know and respect the temperature limits of the plastic wrap they use. If you exceed the limits, you threaten the safety of the food you sell and the well-being of the public.
Food customers place an extraordinary amount of trust in food handlers. They believe that not only is the food prepared hygienically, but it&#;s kept in a hygienic state through all the handling and movement it might undergo until the point where it&#;s sold to a customer.
The sight of the food a customer might choose wrapped in a protective layer of plastic wrap underlines this perceived safety. Plastic food wrap has come to be synonymous with good food handling and hygiene practices. It encourages the customer to continue shopping at your establishment because of the care you demonstrate in handling the food.
This is why you have a duty to know the temperature and other limits of your plastic food wrap and ensure that you stay within the limits while you&#;re handling food. The ability to demonstrate a safe level of hygiene to your customers helps your establishment stay in business and helps your customers feel secure in shopping with you.
Know Whether Plastic Food Wrap is Microwave Safe
The microwave oven has become a staple of the food industry as well as the home. It can quickly heat up food for busy shoppers on the go, thaw food safely before cooking, and even warm up a cup of coffee or tea for customers who like their beverages piping hot.
But knowing whether the plastic food wrap you use is microwave safe should be a requirement for using a microwave oven in every commercial establishment. Plastic wrap that specifically says on the label that it's microwave-safe should be the only wrap you use.
Additional safety tips for microwave use help ensure the safety of your customers when used commercially and the safety of your family when used at home. The number one tip is that the plastic should not touch the food being microwaved. Touching the food can cause the plastic wrap to heat up beyond its stated temperature limits and begin to burn. When plastic wrap burns, dioxins can form, and these are cancer-causing chemicals that can be transferred to the food.
Another thing to avoid is having the plastic food wrap come into contact with oily food that has just been removed from the heat, such as fried chicken. The oil can retain the heat and cause the plastic to exceed its temperature limits.
While plastic wrap can be safely used in a microwave oven, it should never be used in a convection oven, as the temperature regularly exceeds the limits of plastic wrap, and the plastic can easily burn.
Buy High-quality Plastic Wrap from MMP
Want more information on what temperature does cling film melt? Feel free to contact us.
One of the easiest ways to be sure the plastic wrap you&#;re using on a daily commercial basis can handle wide heat ranges is to choose plastic food wrap from MMP.
M Wrap© brand film from MMP has a temperature range that withstand temperatures up to 130 degrees Celsius and as low as -40
degrees Celsius. M Wrap© has been formulated to stand up to the rigorous demands of the commercial food industry.
M Wrap© is a hygienic food wrapping and packaging film product that&#;s made for virgin food wrap-grade polymers of Polyethylene (PE) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). MMP uses advanced Japanese Technology from Riken Vinyl Industry Co. Ltd. The resulting product complies with the Japanese food wrapping and cling film manufacturer and supplier standards. M Wrap© is FDA approved and distributed around the world.
To ensure the high quality of M Wrap©, we use only premium-grade, all-virgin materials in the manufacturing process. We combine the materials with Hexamoll® DINCH from BASF to improve the durability and performance of the film for professional use. Hexamoll® DINCH has been approved and certified as safe for use in food Packaging by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Many professional food handlers use M Wrap© in their own homes to ensure their family&#;s safety from airborne germs and pathogens. You can easily order M Wrap© from the MMP website for immediate delivery. M Wrap© comes in four lengths of 30 cm, 40 cm, 60 cm. and 100 cm and two widths of 20 cm and 30 cm, to provide you with the plastic food wrap that suits your kitchen and food preparation habits the best.
Discover M Wrap© by MMP, the choice of plastic food wrap designed to meet the standards of food professionals all over the world.
Up until recently, I was pretty sure you were never, ever supposed to put plastic wrap in the oven. It would leach all sorts of plastic toxins and also probably melt into the food, right?
However, there are recipes online &#; all posted by people who know what they're doing &#; that call for wrapping food in plastic and then cooking it in the oven.
Food Network's Robert Irvine wraps his ribs in plastic wrap and cooks them at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours. The recipe notes that the oven should never go above 250 degrees. Chef Akhtar Nawab, who owns a handful of restaurants in New York City, also wraps his slow roasted wrapped ribs in plastic wrap, cooking them on a low temperature.
A Thanksgiving turkey recipe in the Washington Post by Lisa King of the reality show "Farm Kings" called for the turkey to be wrapped in plastic wrap and covered in foil before being cooked at 350 degrees.
What's going on here? How is it that the plastic wrap isn't melting in the oven, especially at 350 degrees?
The melting point of plastic wrap
At what temperature will this plastic wrap begin to melt in the oven?.
(Photo: Swapan Photography/Shutterstock)
The Washington Post did an explainer piece after the Thanksgiving turkey recipe posted because so many people had questions about the plastic wrap. They spoke with chemistry professor and former Food 101 columnist Robert L. Wolke, who explained that "most home-use plastic wraps won&#;t melt until 220 to 250 degrees, anyway, depending on the manufacturer." He also suggested contacting the manufacturer to ask. (That information won't be on the box.)
So that explains why the rib recipes work. But what about the turkey that's cooked at 350 degrees? The aluminum foil is the key. Think about when you take a casserole out of the oven that's had aluminum foil on it. You can take the foil off immediately without burning your hands, although you need to watch out for the steam that may escape.
Wolke says the foil "is so thin and insubstantial that it cannot absorb and retain enough heat to get very hot." Although the oven is 350 degrees, the foil itself doesn't get hot enough to melt the plastic.
When I spoke with "Hells Kitchen" contestant Barbie Marshall recently about making the perfect mashed potatoes, she mentioned putting plastic wrap in the oven, too, when explaining how to keep the potatoes hot if they're ready before the rest of the meal.
"You can do plastic if you put foil on top," she said.
"Make sure the mashed potatoes are super hot," said Marshall, "and cover with plastic wrap and then foil. Put them in a warm oven. The plastic keeps the steam inside, and they won't dry out."
Is it safe?
Just because you can use plastic wrap in the oven, does that mean you should use it in the oven? What type of chemicals are in the plastic wrap that can leach into food when it's hot? As of , almost all plastic wraps made for home use have been phthalate-free, according to Dr. Andrew Weil. Phthalates are chemicals used to make plastics pliable that have been linked to many health problems. Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) or polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) replaced phthalates, but "LDPE may contain diethylhexyl adipate (DEHA), another potential endocrine disruptor that has been linked to breast cancer in women."
Because of this the FDA advises against using plastic wrap in microwaves unless it is labeled "microwave safe." The FDA doesn't have any warnings about using plastic wraps in ovens, most likely because most plastic wrap manufacturers say their products are not oven-safe.
In addition to concerns about plastic wrap leaching chemicals into the foods, there are also the environmental concerns. Plastics last virtually forever in the landfill, so using as little as possible &#; in any of its forms &#; is the more environmentally responsible choice.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website shrink wrap plastic rolls.