How dangerous is it to bake food with plastic?

Question

I just baked a spiral ham for an hour.  There was a little piece of plastic that I was supposed to 'remove before cooking', but I didn't notice it.

After an hour, the ham was baked and the plastic seems to be unburned.  This is possibly because the plastic was under the basting liquid and not exposed to air.  The plastic also does not seem to have melted.  It feels hard to the touch.  The surface is a little slippery and smells like ham.

Is my ham safe to eat?

Henry B. · Answer

I posted this question in a hurry (because as you can imagine), there was a lot of anxiety concerning whether it was safe to have dinner or not.  It turns out that this ham is not safe; I will quote the USDA:

The plastic bone guard covering the exposed bone is used to keep the
  bone from breaking the outer wrap. If left on the meat during cooking,
  a 325 or 350 °F oven temperature may not melt the plastic but still
  give off an abnormal chemical odor or taste. Cutting away the meat
  around the exposed area will not necessarily solve this potential food
  safety problem because the penetration of the chemical into the meat
  will be unknown. If meat is cooked in a closed container, the
  chemicals may penetrate the entire piece of meat. USDA advises not to
  eat the ham; discard it.

Source: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/pdf/hock_locks_and_other_accoutrements.pdf

Quite a disappointment unfortunately.

How dangerous is it to bake food with plastic?

One Answer

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question