It is common for people to eat out without finishing or ordering too much. It is too bad to waste it. Naturally, they think of packing it and taking it away.
However, what kind of packing box is better? How to pack to ensure food safety? Among them, Dr. Clove will tell you about it.
What kind of packing boxes are available on the market?
If you are interested in turning over plastic containers, you will find that their bottom or side near the bottom has the following signs:
In fact, this is a kind of plastic classification commonly used in the world. Different numbers indicate plastics of different materials, and 1 ~ 7 in the middle of the figure is a label of different types.
- No.1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET): plastic bottles for mineral water, fruit juice and carbonated beverages are made of it. No.2 High Density Polyethylene (HDPE): It is used in common barrels of bottled water. No.3 Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): Plastic used in general plastic pipes; No.5 Polypropylene (PP): This is the most heat-resistant material, which is commonly used in plastic appliances heated by microwave ovens. No.6 Polystyrene (PS): It is now used for cup covers of many milk tea. No.7 often refers to several kinds of plastics such as polycarbonate (PC): most infant bottles use PC as raw material.
At present, three kinds of materials are mainly used in the common packing boxes on the market, namely No.1, No.5 and No.6, which are relatively safe.
Can these three kinds of packing boxes be used for heating?
- No.5 plastic is relatively heat-resistant and can withstand high temperatures of about 200 degrees Celsius. Therefore, it can be heated by microwave oven. Repeated heating will not cause big problems in what. No.1, No.6 and other plastics have relatively poor heat resistance. It is better not to heat directly, nor to put too hot food into them. Of course, they cannot be used repeatedly.
If you can’t tell the exact kind of material used, it is better to pour the packed food out and put it into a pan for heating, or pour it into a plate or bowl and then use microwave heating to eat it.
Do I need to choose the packing box according to the food?
Because the temperature of food is generally not too high, it is usually not necessary to select the packing box according to the food.
However, if some foods with high oil content need high temperature heating, it is better not to directly use packing boxes to heat them.
Since some components in plastic products are fat soluble, if the oil content in food is high, it is very beneficial to their dissolution. Although it is not necessarily harmful, it is not a good thing for what.
It is suggested that it is best not to contain fatty foods, such as fatty foods such as Mao Xuewang and boiled meat slices, so don’t put all the fatty foods in the soup into the packing box.
How often do I have to enter the refrigerator?
Of course, the food packed home should be put into the refrigerator for refrigeration.
However, how long is it better to put the refrigerator in? The basic principle is to be as fast as possible.
Because the packaged food is eaten by many people and exposed to the air, it is easy for various bacteria to proliferate, so it is better to refrigerate it in the refrigerator immediately.
In short, if you can put the refrigerator as soon as possible, put the refrigerator as soon as possible, don’t drag the mud and water, and you must heat it thoroughly again next time before you can eat it safely.
Is the paper packing box safe?
Paper packing boxes are also very popular now, such as pizza, hamburgers and other foods will be used when packing.
In fact, the paper packing box is not entirely paper, and its surface also has a layer of plastic film, called [polyethylene coating].
Polyethylene coating is a relatively new process. When the box is cast and molded, a thin layer of polyethylene plastic (that is, the aforementioned No.4 material PE) coating will be plated on the paper surface, which is equivalent to a layer of plastic film covering the paper surface.
The biggest advantage of polyethylene coating is that it can cope with cold and hot drinks freely. It can withstand the high temperature of about 90 degrees and can resist water well. Therefore, it is also very safe to pack food.
However, its heat resistance is not particularly good, so it is not recommended to heat it directly in the microwave oven.