posted on May 22, 2012 by
10 Comments

Non-stick Coating Introduced for Food Packaged in Glass Bottles

Non-stick Coating in Glass Ketchup BottlesDidn’t we just settle on the fact that food in glass containers was our safest bet?  Maybe not.

According to FastCompany, a group of MIT engineers is developing a new condiment lubricant that makes the inside of both plastic and glass bottles so slippery, nothing is left inside.  They report that LiquiGlide will relieve us of the inconvenient pounding currently required for ketchup containers, as well save a lot of wasted food.

Well sign me up!  Oh, wait a minute.  We don’t know what it’s made from.

While the team “stuck” with food safe, FDA approved materials, they aren’t sharing exactly what they are.  So if LiquiGlide takes off as predicted, we’ll be burdened with researching sauces and jellies packaged in glass in order to avoid another unknown, proprietary chemical.  Hmpf.

Filed Under: Glass, Non-stick Coatings
  • Sittingathome

    You can easily figure out what type of chemicals the lab is using by looking at their publication record (for example, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927775711007187). It is clear the lab uses pretty safe chemicals to get their ‘super-hydrophobic’ materials to work. Don’t be scared, science can be safe for you too. 

    Plus, think of the waste this will reduce. Especially, as looking at some of their previous publications elucidates, the lubricant will likely be biodegradable as well. 

    • http://thesoftlanding.com Alicia

      Wow, if only I was a scientist I’d be able to easily figure it out, right?! :-)

      I just took a look at the link you referenced and went blind when I got to that part where it says, “We report on a rapid, single-step method to produce large-area superhydrophobic surfaces via acetone-induced phase transformation of polycarbonate. Crystallization of the polymer leads to the formation of a hierarchical structure composed of microporous spherulites covered with nano-fibrils, and resulted in superhydrophobic wetting behavior.”

      Whoa, Nelly!

      I can certainly appreciate the fact that science can be safe (and this lubricant may very well be safe too), as I’ve spent the last six years learning to identify safer plastics.  We lay people just need straightforward  info about the ingredients being used before we can make a truly informed decision.  The claims “food safe and FDA approved” don’t mean a whole lot, especially when you consider the FDA’s bad record for not protecting the public from well-known endocrine disrupting compounds.

      A simple label would be amazing. Seriously, we’re not asking for a detailed recipe here.

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  • willowsprite

    I’ve never had any problems getting stuff out of glass jars/bottles.  It all comes out eventually as glass is pretty slippery all by itself.  This is ridiculous.  Why use more petroleum products that take forever to break down and keep it just glass, which returns to the earth much more easily.  Save the petrol for our gas tanks, not ketchup bottles.  Ick

  • Sherri

    There are people starving all over the world and we waste our time and resources on getting things to come out of bottles easier.  Sad.

  • http://www.StyleEssentials.com Lisa D Liguori-Style Essential

    Thanks Alicia, I will be on the watch for this. Whether or not it is safe, we don’t know yet, but I agree with willow sprite and Sherri, it just seems a silly waste.

  • http://myplasticfreelife.com Beth Terry

    This just makes my heart hurt.  I haven’t blogged about it yet because every time I think about it, I just want to crawl under the covers with a cupcake and a bottle of bourbon.

    Okay, just this part freaks me out:  ”acetone-induced phase transformation of polycarbonate”

    Acetone and polycarbonate (which contains BPA)  = safe?  

    I hope that jars lined with this stuff will at least be labelled.  Alicia, what can we do to campaign against this?  Or to campaign for disclosure?   I want to do something but just feeling overwhelmed right now.

    • http://thesoftlanding.com Alicia

      My thoughts exactly Beth!  This is something that needs awareness for sure, but the big question is how to go about doing that?  I’ll be thinking on it and asking my favorite greenies’ opinions.  

      • http://myplasticfreelife.com Beth Terry

        Let’s definitely keep talking about it.  I don’t want to put it on the back burner, but I’m just so freaking busy right now!

  • Sea Note Connie

    just leave it alone. the food is fine in glass jars unless its the gmos, etc in it.. really.. they are greedy basards