Monday, March 19, 2012

Food Storage Part II: Unraveling the Mystique of Mylar Bags | Wake Up World

Food Storage Part II: Unraveling the Mystique of Mylar Bags | Wake Up World

Food Storage Part II: Unraveling the Mystique of Mylar Bags

17th March 2012
By Gaye Levy
Guest writer for Wake Up World.
Part 1 can be read here
Today I would like to help unravel the mystique of the Mylar bag.  As with the ubiquitous oxygen absorber, the mention of Mylar bags brings up as many questions as there are answers.  We have all heard that the best way to store dry goods for long term storage is in a Mylar bag but what exactly is a Mylar bag and, more specifically, how are they used?
What is a Mylar bag?
First and foremost, the term “Mylar” is actually one of many trade names for a polyester film called BoPet.  For the technically inclined and the curious, that stands for “Biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate”.  This film was developed by DuPont in the 1950’s and was first used by NASA.
Since then, many uses for Mylar have been embraced due to its high tensile strength and its moisture, light, gas and aroma barrier properties.  Mylar is a also good insulator against electrical disturbances. For all of these reasons and more, Mylar bags are considered a gold standard when it comes to long term food storage.

No comments:

Post a Comment