non-food-grade plastics

[SwampWitch]

It concerns me how many people don't think about plastics at all. There's a kitty litter box cake (yes it's gross) on many cooking and entertaining websites, and the cake is served in a "new, clean" litter pan, and scooped with a "new, clean" llitter scoop. Some say to line the box with litter box liner or garbage bags. These are NON-FOOD-grade plastics!

Non-food-grade plastics leach some really nasty chemicals into food. Serious long-term health problems can be a result of ingesting these chemicals. No one knows how much exposure can cause problems, but they are absorbed into the food upon contact.

I've heard of people making cider in garbage cans, brining meat in garbage bags, and storing foods in "new, washed" paint buckets. Some people store leftover turkey in plastic garbage bags, or store spices in film containers.

Here's a link from the Canadian Cancer Society.

http://www.cancer.ca/ccs/internet/standard/0,3182,3172_369485__langId-en,00.html

What is food-grade plastic? Just ask yourself if it the plastic item was made for storing food. If unsure, don't use it. Better yet, store it in glass! Here's a scary link about plastics in general:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/polyvinyl-chloride

Cheers, from
SwampWitch

 

[Ric]

I've never heard of those kitty litter cakes...sounds a bit gross !

Thanks for the links, reading up now !

Recent testing by several governments has also shown that children can ingest hazardous chemicals from PVC toys during use.

That's not good !

regards

Ric