When looking for packaging bags, we often see the word mylar bag on various websites. But yet we still don’t know its meaning or are still confused about what it is exactly. Many people regard the mylar bag as a product or a packaging style, but they are wrong. Mylar is just a trademark of a specific company.
What is a mylar bag?
Mylar is a trademarked term produced by DuPont company for polyethylene terephthalate in plastic flexible packaging materials. It has several layers of laminated plastic. That have excellent oxygen absorbers—allowing your product to be stored in the best possible condition.
Making it suitable for food and beverage packaging. In this article, it’s safe to say that mylar bags is a plastic packaging bag, just like when people say band-aids, they mean bandages.
Keep on reading to know more about what you should consider when customizing mylar bags:
1. How to choose the correct thickness
Choose the right thickness according to your packaging size. Small sizes, in general, is 3.5-4.5 mil (I personally do not recommend the 3.5 mil bags) because the chances of it tearing are high. While in large sizes, you can choose from 4.5- 6.5 mil. If your product is looking for long-term food storage, I recommend a thicker mylar bag. The reason for this is because the thicker bags provide better insulation to protect them from outside elements that can affect your product.
Mylar bags below 4.5 mils of thickness do not have barrier properties and is not suited for long-term storage since they provide less protection and insulation.
If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly, you can go for the 3.5 mil mylar bag. However, it would be best to be extra careful when handling and storing to avoid any tearing.
Also, another piece of advice is that the rule of the thumb, use the thickest mylar bag that will work for you and your products. Ensure that we can store products in their packaging regardless of weight. Opt for sturdy packaging to prevent any product damage and to the bag as well.
2. The barrier of a mylar bag is determined by the thickness and the different kinds of aluminum foil used for bag production.
Mylar bags are designed using different materials based on their features and advantages to suit their intended use. Once the material to be used has been decided, they are laminated together. To create a pouch that is sturdy and convenient to use. In most cases, the materials utilized to generate mylar bags are aluminum foil and a PET/ VMPET/ PE mix.
2.1 Let’s talk about the difference s of aluminum foil and aluminum plating.
Many wholesalers of mylar bags think that the sunlight will damage the products inside the packaging. Due to the thickness of the bag being very thin. They are not entirely wrong; packaging with thin thickness can affect the entirety of the packaging’s barrier properties. Outside factors like sunlight, oxygen, and moisture can pass through the packaging and affect product quality.
Aluminum foil is a thin sheet of metal used for packaging products in flexible packaging. Another thing to know is that aluminum foil is not heat-sealable, so it needs to be compounded with other materials like PE. For the aluminum plating, its barrier property is much lower than the aluminum foil. Also the packaging cost of electroplated film is much lower compared to aluminum foil packaging
2.2 How to distinguish these two materials:
- The brightness of the aluminum foil is not as bright as aluminum plating. Also, the reflective performance of the aluminum coating outshines the aluminum foil. Another thing to look for is the transparency of the matte film in both aluminum foil and aluminum plating. If you try to shine a light through the inside of the packaging in the aluminum foil, it will not pass through because it’s opaque. At the same time, the light-transmitting one is the aluminum plating.
- The aluminum foil has a thick feel and is heavier in weight. In comparison, the aluminum plating feels lighter and softer compared to the aluminum foil.
- The aluminum foil is easy to fold out dead folds and dead marks. Unlike aluminum plating, it can not hold the folds; therefore, it would rebound quickly.
3. Can a Mylar bag be used in cooking?
I know a lot of consumers who heat their food in the oven while still in the packaging. We need to remember that before doing this, we must confirm whether the material specification of your packaging contains RCPP instead of LDPE. This is because if LDPE is put in a heated environment, it will release a strong plastic smell that can harm food elements.
Therefore we must use a unique RCPP material for the mylar bag to be used in the cooking environment. A friendly reminder for consumers before purchasing is to make sure that you understand the purpose of your packaging.
4. The materials you need to know if you want to vacuum your packaging
Some customers prefer to pack their food in a mylar bag and remove all the air inside to extend its shelf life. For vacuum processing, we must add nylon material in the bag production process.
By adding nylon, we can increase the toughness and the stretching force of the bag, especially if the food is sharp, it will not pierce the packaging. So before you customize your packaging, you should explain the features you want to your manufacturer.
5. How to confirm if your mylar bag BPA free or FDA food-grade
For mylar bags, it is usually laminated by several layers of film, and because of this. We have to make sure that in the final contact of food, LDPE or RCPP material is used. You must declare to your manufacturers that they can only use 100% raw material for blowing the film.
Also, they must provide a BPA and food-grade testing pass report from the FDA to prove that it is safe to use for food products. To ensure that your mylar bag meets the test standards required. You can always ask your manufacturers to send you samples of the same batch containing the inner layers, which is LDPE or RCPP. Then you can send the samples yourself to your local SGS laboratory, or if you’re based in America, you may send it to the FDA for testing.
6. How to choose printing ways for mylar bag
Mylar bags are designed to allow easy printing for product advertising and to grow your brand even more. For this reason, numerous printing options are available like digital printing, Flexo, and rotogravure. Also, you can custom print your mylar bags as it will help you achieve more product visibility and customer interaction to increase sales. I have listed below some helpful tips if you wish to print on your mylar bags.
- If you buy the stock, you can buy the kind of ink handwriting suitable for PET material instead of paper-adhesive
- If you are in large quantities, using gravure printing can reduce your unit price
- If you run a job with many different SKUs, use digital printing to provide LOW
- MOQ and free set up fee to reduce your inventory waste and expensive version fees, and you can achieve fast delivery to catch up with your deadline.
7. Conclusion
Mylar bags are the perfect packaging for long term storage because of its high quality for storage and durability. Using mylar bags have revolutionized how we store food for longer period of time. Its barrier properties helps keeps the food fresh by keeping moisture, oxygen and light from passing through the packaging.
So if you’re looking for a quality packaging that is intended for long term storage then mylar bags can be the right fit for you and your products. Send us a message via email and we’ll be happy to get back to you.
