More Food Concerns

[deejah]

i was taught early on NOT to cook in aluminum pots as the aluminum leeches out into the foods and then into your body

i see and eat many thai foods cooked this way

and about take away boiling hot foods and soups in plastic bags

i cant help but think some plastic will leech into the foods

studies show plastic is a growth hormaone for some cancer cells

anyone else concerned

any light to shine here?

[cathyy]

There was a fuss in the 70s about aluminum pans and Alzheimer's, but it turned out to be unfounded. Aluminum is about the best you can get for cooking at a decent price -copper would be ideal but simply costs too much. Also, you can get a decent thickness to the pan and more even cooking without it weighing too much to lift. Where have you seen aluminum cooking pans here? All I see are cheap thin steel pans. I've seen some aluminum woks, come to think of it, but no pans.

Research has shown that foods cooked in a plastic container in the microwave do release dioxin, which is a carcinogen. However, microwaves are a form of electromagnetic energy/radio/radiation and simple heat is not. I wouldn't think that just putting the hot food into a plastic bag would cause any leaching of plastic. The bags are made for hot foods and so should be heat stable. It's certainly not going to cause the same release of dioxin you get from microwaving in plastic.

[pampal]

Cathyy,

would re-heating foods in plastic also release dioxins?

[cathyy]

Yes. You ought to use glass or ceramic or porcelain. Something not plastic but not metal either. I still use plastic for storing leftovers. But I put them on the dish I will eat them from to reheat them.

Edited March 14, 2008 by cathyy

[Aries74]

i was taught early on NOT to cook in aluminum pots as the aluminum leeches out into the foods and then into your body

i see and eat many thai foods cooked this way

and about take away boiling hot foods and soups in plastic bags

i cant help but think some plastic will leech into the foods

studies show plastic is a growth hormaone for some cancer cells

anyone else concerned

any light to shine here?

Thanks for the info. I'm not worry American eat frozen food all the time and unhealthy food.

They have more problems than us. Pollution in thailand is probably worst than this.

[dee123]

....yes thankyou for the info cathy....my missus has just bought a mamouth alu pot.....as for plastics following the manufacturers guidlines is the best bet.

[Trevor]

If you have to heat (or store), enamel or glass is best. Aluminium and even steel leach toxic heavy metals into the food, especially acidic foods.

I would also avoid hot or fatty foods sold in cheap plastic bags. The plasticisers used are carcinogenic and also act like artificial oestrogens.

But then I am a raw-foodist who does not subscribe to classic germ theory. Cooking causes disease ... see the cancer thread in the index.

[crowbait]

If you have to heat (or store), enamel or glass is best. Aluminium and even steel leach toxic heavy metals into the food, especially acidic foods.

I would also avoid hot or fatty foods sold in cheap plastic bags. The plasticisers used are carcinogenic and also act like artificial oestrogens.

But then I am a raw-foodist who does not subscribe to classic germ theory. Cooking causes disease ... see the cancer thread in the index.

Neither aluminium or mild steel used in the manufacture of cooking utensils contain any heavy metals, nor are heavy metals used in pre or post processing of the product.

Iron, the principal constituent of steel, is not toxic unless in large quantities - like a steel bullet - and will pass through the body unchanged (we can't metabolise metalic iron). By and large the same is true for metalic aluminium.

Plasticisers are added to PVC to make it flexible. Although different materials can be used, members of the phthalate family have been commonly used for this purpose since the 1930s. Soft PVC products for building, automotive, medical and packaging applications usually contain phthalates. Typically, a flexible PVC product will contain between 20% and 50% plasticiser.

Phthalates are a group of colourless, odourless liquids that have very low volatility and do not readily dissolve in water. Common phthalate plasticisers in use today are DIDP (di-isodecyl phthalate), DINP (di-isononyl phthalate) and DEHP (di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate), sometimes known as DOP (di-octyl phthalate).

Because they have been widely used for such a long time, phthalates have been, and continue to be, closely studied to ensure their use is safe for health and the environment.