Reynolds cooking bags

[weco]

[FONT=&quot]This just came from a member on another of my bird groups.....

A lady at our club meeting yesterday brought in a box of the new Reynolds cooking bags made of aluminum and plastic made for the oven...They say you can use them up to 450...She used 2 bags at 375 for 40 minutes and after coming back 30 minutes later found her Amazon closest to the kitchen pumping for air and eyes were burnt from the fumes...Metallic fumes filled the air...There is no doubt this bird would have been dead in another 10 minutes...Other birds suffered eye irritations. She called the company and reported it and we will run this in our.

Please post this where you think you may save birds lives…other pets and humans who want to save their lungs.[/FONT]

 

[BoomBoom]

Thanks for sharing this! I don't cook but I like to know what products are harmful to birds.

 

[sodakat]

This started in 1998. SAME EXACT EMAIL. Then in 2003. I don't know if it's true, but the same email is a little odd. Here is discussion from 2003:

I got this in my e-mail from a friend...scary huh?!

A fellow club member brought in a box of the new
Reynolds cooking bags for the oven yesterday. They
are aluminum and plastic and made to go up to 450
degrees. She used 2 at 375 degrees for 40 minutes
and after 30 minutes she came back in the room to
find her Amazon pumping for air and its eyes severely
burnt. He would have been dead in another 10 minutes.
A metallic odor filled the house as well. Several
other Amazons suffered eye irritations. She did call
and report it to the company. Please post this
where ever you think you may save birds lives.

GROUP OWNER NOTE: I first heard of this story
online in 1998. It was word for word what is
written above or nearly word for word. There
was talk that it might be a hoax, but I could
not remember if it was proven to be legit or not,
so searched on google.com and e-mailed Reynolds
Consumer Products before approving this message.
I could not find a definitive answer from google.com,
but I did get the following response from Reynolds
Consumer Response:

Dear Michael:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding Reynolds® Oven
Bags and Reynolds® Hot Bags® Foil Bags.

Heat-resistant nylon resin is used in the manufacture
of Reynolds Oven Bags and ties. This resin is in
compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration
regulations, which govern the use of plastics in
oven cooking. Regulations permitting such use have
been in existence since the product was first
introduced over 30 years ago. We are aware of some
reports that products containing Teflon (PTFE) or
related fluorochemicals when heated may release
chemicals that are toxic to birds. Our oven bags do
not contain PTFE or related fluorochemicals.

Reynolds Hot Bags foil bags are 98.5% aluminum. The
balance is primarily iron and silicon. These are
added to give the strength and puncture resistance
obtained only in the alloy used in Reynolds household
foil. Reynolds Hot Bags foil bags contain no recycled
material and comply with U.S. Food and Drug
Administration requirements for direct contact with
food.

We know of no hazards to birds or other animals that
would occur during normal use of Reynolds Hot Bags
foil bags or Reynolds Oven Bags.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Mary Kathryn, Reynolds Consumer Response
ContactUs@...
Ref # 604818
---------------------------------------
Here is the link to that post: Yahoo! Groups

 

[MonicaMc]

Accidentally got myself banned from a group about this...

A fellow club member brought in a box of the new Reynolds cooking bags for the oven yesterday. They are aluminum and plastic and made to go up to 450 degrees. She used 2 at 375 degrees for 40 minutes and after 30 minutes she came back in the room to find her Amazon pumping for air and its eyes severely burnt. He would have been dead in another 10 minutes. A metallic odor filled the house as well. Several other Amazons suffered eye irritations. She did call and report it to the company. Please post this where ever you think you may save birds lives.

"A fellow club member"
Who was she? Where does she live? When did this happen? What club did she belong to?

One version mentions other amazons, another mentions "other birds"... What other birds did she have and how many?




As per Reynolds, their bags are safe if used appropriately. (as per the post that sodakat copy/pasted). Also, as per sodakats post, this "Reynolds" thing has been going around for over 10 years!!!!! Those bags could have changed within the past 10 years or so.

As per Reynolds, these bags should be used within the cooking range of 350° to 400° F and not to exceed 400°F.
http://www.reynoldskitchens.com/media/3020138/tobcookingtimeschart.pdf



Found a post of someone using one of these bags and nothing happened.
Reynolds Oven Bags Toxic? - Quaker Parrot Diet & Health - Quaker Parrot Forum

Likewise, and a more recent post, someone lost 3 birds when they used one of these oven bags - but the deaths were not confirmed and linked to the use of the bags
beware reynolds oven bags!!! - Real Cockatoo Facts!

It's quite possible that the birds died due to something else that was different but not thought of... however, upon closer inspection of said thread, there's this snippet of "info" from the poster...

the oven bag melted in my oven.

So the next reasonable question is... what temperature was the oven set at? And if the oven bags start melting, does this make them dangerous? The info about what the temperature was set on was not mentioned.


And from Traci's Parrots 4 U....

Recently I received an inquiry from Eric W. he was concerned because there was some buzz going around about Reynolds oven bags being toxic to birds. These are the bags we use to cook turkeys etc....

After research and talking with the reynolds company who was very helpful I do not believe there is anything to fear with using them. I myself use them every year and have never had an issue.

They do not contain any ptfe which is the chemical in teflon that causes toxicity if over heated.

Reynolds Hot Bags foil bags are 98.5% aluminum. The balance is primarily iron and silicon.

Reynolds Hot Bags foil bags contain no recycled material and comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements for direct contact with food.

There has been no credible reports of reynolds oven bags causing harm to any bird or other animal.

Some of the chatter I saw online was someone claiming their home filled with toxic fumes while using the oven bag and their bird was gasping for air and eyes were watery.

Okay people there is more to the story like they were burning something perhaps a plastic or something. If you have a bird, human etc... in a small room filling with smokey toxic smelling fumes we will all have the same reaction. Use some common sense and clear the air and don't burn stuff!!!! lol

Conclusion in my researched opinion Reynolds Oven Bags are safe to use and I personally will continue doing so.

In this group that I got banned from, I put a link to this thread. Needless to say, owner of group was not happy with me... words in bold were written to me.

I do not always like that you took one persons comment from a discussion forum and claimed it to be true!
I never did claim it to be true.

Just because you found something on the internet does not make it true!
I asked her the same... ya, that pissed her off... The info the group owner posted came from "ParrotsPlus" and was shared by a veterinary page.

Unless you have a legit source please keep your internet postings to yourself.
I asked her if her source was "legit". Does she know who ParrotsPlus is? Are they a reliable source? Where did they get this info from? And why has this been going around on the internet for 10 years or more?

I did not post it so you could find some source on the net to try and claim different.
She acted as if I went out of my way to find *THIS* thread to try and contradict her. Unfortunately, I read this thread before I ever saw her post! Her post was made days after this thread was.

If you want to take a chance on using them...go right ahead!! I will have no pity when you pour your story on us all that your birds fell ill.
I never recommended people to use the bags. I never said I trusted them or that I would even use them...


I even mentioned that I'd contact Reynolds and find out what they have to say on the subject. After that message, well, I got banned from the group and put on her ignore list so I could no longer contact her...




In short though, it bothers me to see regurgitated information being passed around the internet as true when there is nothing to back that info up, and no one knows anything more than what's already been posted. I am not saying I trust oven bags, I am not saying that people should or can use oven bags, nor would I use them personally... but I think there's more going on than what's being said.


If I have offended someone, my apologies! I don't make posts with the intentions to argue or to contradict someone, but to try and make people think. I don't claim to be an expert and may come off as a "know it all" - but I know, I still have so much to learn! I just hate to see people "stuck in a rut" (in thoughts/opinions) because "everyone" has told them the same information time and time again, so anything new and different than what they've been told must be wrong, without even considering whether or not there's any truth to it.


Please, just use caution when cooking with anything! Don't overheat things, don't forget about pots/pans on/in the stove, and try to stay away from known dangers! (PTFE being one of them!)


So I'll just end it with this image! (for humor! saw this image after the banning incident!)

 

[weco]

I know I should have checked the validity of it, but where it came from is normally solid info, but I did send a message requesting where the info came from & just realized I've not received a reply.....while I didn't investigate the efficacy of the post, my initial thoughts were tha the problem may have been the use of 2 bags, thinking they might have used them one inside the other.....

As I don't always return to the scene of the crime in a timely manner (though it's only been 8 days in this instance), if you think and/or know something I have posted to be wrong, feel free to PM me...that flashing notice will at least get a look, probably sooner than not.....

So, while I did not offer the post as valid data, it was "...regurgitated information being passed around the internet".....

 

[MonicaMc]

Weco, it was posted as a warning! If it's true, then you have every right to warn others! Without us doing any research of our own, who are we to know otherwise?

I saw your post on it before I saw it in the groups. I didn't care when I saw this at first, but then it bothered me once I saw it being posted elsewhere and it was just the same info over and over again... no one had any additional info to go along with it. One person said that she may have lost 3 birds to the oven bags. I'm not saying that the bags didn't kill her birds, but we do bring out a lot of dangerous things around the holidays.... or we have relatives who bring over a dish of food that might need to be heated up in the oven and being that it's from a relative we often don't give a second thought as to whether or not the pan is safe!

I don't blame you or anything for trying to be helpful and cautious, it's just a bit of a pet peeve of mine when incomplete info is posted all over the internet. My post was not directed at you, but at everyone.... because surely other people are seeing it being posted somewhere else. If I find information that I think might be useful, or interesting, then I like to pass it along... which is why, in the the group I had belonged to I put a link to this thread when a post was made about the Reynolds oven wrap.

 

[Pinkbirdy]

Either way I wont be taking any chances

 

[Jtbirds]

Fact of thinking that someone's opinions are always right even though those to have been programmed into the thoughts of many is we're the problem lies

Truth be told research and be aware of what you are using no matter what and that is what it boils down to.

 

[Mudkips]

As an ex-professional chef of 5 years and an avid home cook, I've seen many methods of cooking "en papillote", including he use of baking paper, aluminium foil, banana leaves etc to create the cooking pouch. I've also used steamer ovens, double boilers and a bain-marie in a similar capacity. But I have never heard of these Reynolds cooking bags before.
With the other methods having such a broad range of use, I can't imagine buying a product with only one possible application - regardless of the theoretical dangers.

~end rant

 

[Merlee]

I have never used any sort of bag to cook with because I have been afraid of the composition of the bag itself. Manufactuers have said plastic baby bottles have been safe for years and now they aren't. Therefore, I don't cook in plastic anything, not even to reheat.