If you’re baking fish, roasting vegetables or preparing a piece of meat for dinner tonight, chances are that you’ll wrap your food in aluminium foil.
What you may not realize is that some of the foil will leach into your meal – and this could be bad for your health.
Using aluminium foil for leftover food
People might argue that if we cook with aluminium cookware then how foil can harm us? But, they do not know that cooking with such utensils is not a problem, placing it in aluminium foil and putting it in the oven is problematic. This is especially true with acidic or spicy food that’s prepared at high temperatures. Often, we store leftovers in aluminium foils to keep them fresh for a longer duration. If not in it, then we cover the food with a piece of foil over the container in which the food is being stored food and it’s good for round 2, but unfortunately, it is not safe to store it like that. Read to know why.
The research
As per a research published in the journal International Journal of Electrochemical Science, “The metal – Aluminum leaches out from the foil in different stimulants, particularly in distilled water as well as acidic and alkaline solution. It was found to be significantly higher in acidic and aqueous solutions in comparison to alcoholic and saline ones. Also, when aluminium foil is projected to higher temperature conditions, it can lead to an enhanced rate of migration of the metal in the foods.”
Food reacts with oxygen
One of the other reasons why we shouldn’t store leftover food in aluminium foil is that it doesn’t do a good enough job to keep oxygen from getting into the food. This allows bacteria to grow inside the food, which may spoil the food the next day and it’ll go bad just as quickly as if you hadn’t wrapped it up at all.
Other options for wrapping
Experts agree that instead of aluminium foil, we can opt for cling wraps and lids to store our leftover food and keep it fresh for a longer duration. When we use cling wrap, it keeps any oxygen from getting in the food. So, this is a much better way of covering your bowl or plate. And if you do not have the cling wrap, it’s better to use a container with a lid as it also protects the food from getting in contact with too much oxygen. But, make sure that food is at room temperature when added in a container. And the last option is to store the leftover food in the freezer in different bags and containers. This will also help save some time for you.
