# Mildly unusual food safety type question...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-unusual-food-safety-type-question/678760>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 14, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-unusual-food-safety-type-question/678760 "2014-01-14T03:54:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-unusual-food-safety-type-question/678760/1 "2014-01-14T03:54:11Z")

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I sometimes have a local product: fully cooked chili frozen in a clear plastic bag.

Years ago, when I first started with it, the main suggested “cooking” method was putting the bag in boiling water for twelve minutes. Sometime in the past few years, this changed: both stovetop and microwave instructions now have you remove it from the bag (thawed or not) to “cook.” I don’t know when this change happened or why — just that I’ve used the “old” method as more convenient for the past few years.

Can anyone think of any possible health-related reason (as opposed to practical — like to avoid having to deal with boiling water) for this change, like a new type of plastic that could leach carcinogens into the chili or something?

Thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-unusual-food-safety-type-question/678760/2 "2014-01-14T03:59:43Z")

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My guess is that they’ve changed to a cheaper, thinner plastic that won’t reliably hold up to boiling. To avoid the occasional ruptured bag, they suggest that you empty the contents before heating. I think the plastic leaching when heated is also a possibility, but that requires more altruism from the company, which I generally assume is quite low.

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-unusual-food-safety-type-question/678760/3 "2014-01-14T08:23:48Z")

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Aha, that might be it. I didn’t think about that because I haven’t had a problem.

I wouldn’t know either way about altruism, though. I’m uncertain as to whether the possibility is enough to make me abandon the way I’ve been doing things, given that I like the fact I don’t have to dirty another pot or plate. _shrug_

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**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mildly-unusual-food-safety-type-question/678760/4 "2014-01-14T13:52:09Z")

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It could also be to make sure that all of the contents get up to a safe temperature zone. In the bag, the center could still be at too low of a temperature to ensure that all of the potentially bad bugs are killed.