Hey folks- Thinking about new packaging and wanted to run a question by the forum to be double certain. I'd like to pack panned choc in FDA approved food contact safe compo-stable "plastic" bags. These bags would then be put in a tin that IS NOT food safe... and then sealed. I figure it's ok as long as the choc doesn't come in contact with the tin...just the bag. Does anyone see any problems with this idea?
Thanks so much for your time!
Cat -
Perfectly acceptable to put product in a food-safe inner bag inside an outer pack that is not.
One question might be how non-food-safe the tin is because people might empty out the contents of the inner bag into the tin once opened.
This discussion brings up a question I have had for a long time: What exactly determines if a container or a substance is food-safe? What, for example, makes polycarbonate molds food-safe? Stainless steel bars used for slabbed ganaches? One food wrap vs. another? A plastic sold as a tablecloth vs. a similar plastic sold as a tarp? In the particular question in this thread, why would the tin not be food-safe? I have not been able to find definitive information on this topic.
I'm not an expert on food safe materials but my understanding is: A material is food safe if it does not react or leach unsafe chemicals, or unsafe levels, into the food. For example, Food cans are coated on the inside with a food safe material so that the contents do not react with the metal can. Otherwise, one would not only ingest the food, but also some of the elements of the can itself. Here's a link to some info by the FDA: http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/PackagingFCS/ucm064166.htm.
