Press N Seal is a plastic wrap product. It's not slick and shiny and clingy like regular plastic wrap (you know the kind - the only thing it sticks to is itself!). This wrap is matte in finish on one side, and ever so slightly sticky on the other. The sticky side has tiny little dots of food-safe adhesive, which are activated when you press on them.

So it's easy to make sealed pouches for food simply by placing the food inside two layers of the wrap and running your finger around the food, or easy to cover dishes and seal with the press of a finger, or to cover foamcore board.

just remember --

a part of the price you pay for EVERYTHING is for the packaging it comes in.

sooooooo.......

just add the price of the boards into the cost of the cake as a NORMAL business expense.

no one said we have to watch the client's dime -- well, unless we're watching it go from their pocket to ours!

Thanks bobwonderbuns and grandmom!

(I knew what contact paper was but I didn't know it was called contact paper). Press and Seal sounds like something I should have even if not for cake boards. I will look for it next time I go to Target!

So, the contact paper you use under cakes states that it is made with DuPont's Zonyl RP?

I think you are confusing that one particular grease/liquid repellent coating (Zonyl RP by DuPont) that is used in food-contacting paper packaging products with common craft store contact paper.

This, BTW, is Glad Press 'n Seal: http://www.glad.com/plasticwrap/pressnseal.php

I'm still comfortable with my decisions. Thank you for asking.

Some shelf papers or contact papers are made with bug repellent or insect resistant. Many are made with in the same factory on the same equipment. Sure toxins in minute doses are not that harmful but why risk it?

My HD won't give me the ok for either foamcore boards or contact paper....so I use either plastic divider plates or just cake boards that I get from my baker's wholesaler.

Not to go too far off topic....but how about the plastic upholstery stuff some people buy at Joann's by the yard to roll their fondant out on? I'm thinking that isn't food safe either. Have you smelled the "plastic chemical" odor that stuff gives off?

yeah, it smells kinda like Satin Ice fondant.........but I still cover my cakes in that! lol

Well at least we KNOW that Satin Ice is actually consumable though. It does smell though doesn't it?

I don't know if i am the only one who uses chip board (covered of corse) for like sheet cakes.... a 1/2 inch thick 4foot by 8foot sheet is 6.00 where i live. Which will make 15 14x19 boards so they end up costin 40 cents each and they are sooo sturdy they dont bend at all soo there is no cracking on crusting buttercream cakes

Thanks very much for the link Jeff. Been wishing and hoping for something like this. Anything to help out with crunch time doing wedding cakes. You're awesome.

The standard contact paper that is sold in normal retail outlets IS NOT food safe for prolonged contact with food, especially greasy or acidic foods (cake & buttercream).

I have e-mailed the Kittrich company, a large manufacturer of contact paper. Their response to me, over 2 years ago, was that the clear contact paper is OK if there is a barrier between it and the cake. Knowing this, I use it ONLY on decorative baseboards, ALWAYS putting a cake board between the contact paper and the cake, extending the board enough to also keep the bottom border off of the contact paper.

Kittrich states that colored or patterned contact papers should never be used where there may be contact with food because of the LEAD in the colors.

Sitting our plates or glasses on this stuff has nothing to do with it being food safe, or not. Those items cannot leach lead or phthalates into them, like food can--that is the concern here.

Since I've been told by the manufacturer--I LISTEN.

HTH
Rae

There really should be a sticky or some article listing all the things that are not safe to use on cake. And the treatment of things that can be used if handled or used in conjunction with the things that will make it food safe.

Regardless of of how long something has been in practice, once it is discovered that it is not food safe that practice should be stopped. It's in the interest of food safety and keeping people healthy. I don't see why anyone would continue knowingly practising unsafe methods of food preparation. That would be the epitome of uncaring stubbornness.

I am not trained in food safety but I have enough sence that if it wasn't manufactured for food production some checking to see if it is safe is in order.

A lot of knowledgable professionals in here are so kind to share about issues like this. Thank you for that!

Then the point here would be that the contact papers in question which are not food grade or treated as such in processing would not be given those strict regulations as the products you mentioned and could be made on the same equipment as the stuff with bug resistant materials.

BlakesCakes, I promise, I am not arguing with you on this so please don't yell. But with all the information available on the internet, why would this information NOT be readily available? I tend to not believe anything until I read it for myself and would like some tangible proof.

I have never used contact paper myself for food purposes. I have heard the argument before that it is not food safe. When I read this thread, to satisfy my own curiosity, I searched online to find more on the subject but could find nothing. I recently started a thread about the safety of floral wire in cakes. I was able to find a lot of information online on that subject and WHY floral wire is not food safe. I just want the same proof for shelf paper.

It kind of bothered me that when someone said they used it, they were heartily admonished for it but no one offered proof of their claims.

When floral wire was first being used and people doubted whether it was food safe there wasn't as much available to read about it then as there is now. Being that it became pretty popular the need for information fed the demand. Warnings about lead were circulated and practices changed to protect consumers.
I would imagine that if any one e-mails the company that sells the shelf paper they use would be return the information needed. The Kittrich CORP manufactures the Contact and Mainstays brands of shelf paper as well as others. Here is a link to their web site. There is a customer service link to contact them through email or by phone.

http://www.kittrich.com/brand.html

I think the first clue that it isn't intended to place food on is.......it isn't on the same shelf with other stuff that is, ya know like Saran Wrap or aluminum foil. I still use it for the fancier little cakes, the clear contact paper over scrapbook paper. Not something that bothers me much. I mean, the cake is on it's own seperate little circle, and barely a sliver of frosting is touching the contact paper. But I'll keep an eye out for the first person's cake I used it for a few years ago and see if he grows a third nipple. Then I'll probably be a little concerned.

my biggest thing about contact paper is the company can't say its food safe cause they haven't jumped through the FDA hoops to have it rated so. If they jump through the hoops to have it rated as FDA approved then those of us that use it are going to be paying alot more for it whether we are lining shelves or covering cake boards. there are many things that people use for cake decorating that may or may not be rated as food safe.

And as far as using some of the fda approved stuff, i have used the wilton fancy foil that is rated food safe and guess what the color comes off the stuff. How safe can that really be.

I know a lot of decorators use copy paper to smooth BC, is that really food safe? I've never seen anything stating it is. What about the spackling knives they buy at the home improvement store, are those food safe? Everyone is never going to agree on what to use and not use. This subject has been beaten to death in the fast and I'm sure will be again. People are going to do what they are comfortable with and have probably been doing for years.

But doesn't the Press and Seal have it written all over the top of it? Mine that I have at home does and that doesn't make for a very pretty presentation! lol

No, you do not want Press and Seal visible in your final presentation. That would look tacky. I use that on my foam board circles. You don't see that.