When it comes to cooking, there’s very bad plastic and, uh, not-as-bad plastic. The bad plastic is polycarbonate, which releases the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA). This kind of plastic is found in cling wrap, plastic squeeze bottles, take-out containers, multi-gallon water bottles, and plastic plates. The not-as-bad plastics do not release BPA and count high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, and polypropylene among their ranks. The reason they're not necessarily “good” plastics is because a 2011 study found that when some were heated, these plastics —in fact, most plastics on the market, including those advertised as BPA free—release non-BPA chemicals that disrupt hormone activity. The amount of chemicals released, however, is unknown.
There currently aren’t any published studies specifically focused on the migration of chemicals in sous vide conditions, so you should sous vide only if you’re comfortable with the gray area surrounding the effect of chemicals in non-BPA plastics.
Neopac recommends using food-grade vacuum sealing bags because they’re BPA-free and made of polyethylene . These bags need to be sealed with a vacuum-sealing system. If you don’t want to pay for a vacuum sealing system, you can also use sturdy resealable freezer bags, like Ziploc ones made with low-density polyethylene.
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