Vacuum sealing food? Dangers and how to make it safe?

[Omega]

I know that army issue MRE last for ages even after BBE date. However, why can’t I make my MRE at home?
I saw Preppers video from National Geographic where preppers used glass cans to conserve food for years to come. However, why not use food sealants, seal food in plastic bags and then heat treat after conserving? Simply boil in water, I’m sure the seal will take it as the sealing temperature is way above 100 centigrades. This should kill botulism, but won’t melt the plastic bag
As I understand, this should be on par with MRE. Yes, it will be less thick material, but it is irrelevant as long as you don’t handle the material often , just store
Can anyone advise? I hunt and fish for recreation, so I have access to A lot of meat and fish, I could make a lot of food, but want to store food in normal temperatures for convenience
Maybe someone already tried it and found the best way doing it? Really want to avoid using glass cans - bulky, can break during transportation, fragile, doesn’t change shape
Thanks

[GillyBee]

Boiling water is not enough to kill botulism. This is why we only have a jams and pickles tradition in the UK. Pressure canners have never been common here.
Your DIY MRE would need to be processed at about 125C for quite a long time to be safe and home producers will not have any of the lab kit needed to test each batch and ensure they are safe to store.The glass jar recipes have all been tested by US universities so are safe as long as you stick to the recipe really carefully and have a pressure canner.
Personally I would look at dehydrated meals which can be DIYed safely and are more achievable in the UK.

[jennyjj01]

Boiling water is not enough to kill botulism. This is why we only have a jams and pickles tradition in the UK. Pressure canners have never been common here.
Your DIY MRE would need to be processed at about 125C for quite a long time to be safe and home producers will not have any of the lab kit needed to test each batch and ensure they are safe to store.The glass jar recipes have all been tested by US universities so are safe as long as you stick to the recipe really carefully and have a pressure canner.
Personally I would look at dehydrated meals which can be DIYed safely and are more achievable in the UK.

Exactly...
You need prolonged temperature >about 120C to kill the spores that cause botulism. If you don't kill them they will produce toxins. You COULD later destroy the toxins with a final cooking at prolonged 100C, but that would be your last chance of eating what has already been poisoned. Your MRE would probably just get warmed up in a shtf situation.

Botulism is very rare here, but get it and you have a high probability of dying or serious illness.

[Omega]

Thank you
I decide to double check and found this information from a site in Ireland: “botulinum a sterilisation process equivalent to 121°C for 3 min is required. The botulinum toxin itself is inactivated (denatured) rapidly at temperatures greater than 80°C”.
Só, cook food first, then pasteurise plastic bags in an oven at 125 degrees for a few minutes… If the plastic bags won’t melt

https://www.fsai.ie/faq/botulism.html

[jennyjj01]

Thank you
I decide to double check and found this information from a site in Ireland: “botulinum a sterilisation process equivalent to 121°C for 3 min is required. The botulinum toxin itself is inactivated (denatured) rapidly at temperatures greater than 80°C”.
Só, cook food first, then pasteurise plastic bags in an oven at 125 degrees for a few minutes… If the plastic bags won’t melt

https://www.fsai.ie/faq/botulism.html

Nope. Won't work.
At normal pressure, you will not get the food much above 100C when you are cooking it. When it reaches 100C, any added heat energy just boils it off and the temp of the liquid stays at 100C*. Vis-a-vis you wont reach that spore killing temperature.
Under pressure, the temperature at which it boils is increased thus allowing it to attain that higher temperature.

*100C* If the liquid is water, which it more or less will be.

[Stonecarver]

Does having 'stuff' in water ie broth or stew,curry etc allow higher temp? While cooking that is

[GillyBee]

Does having 'stuff' in water ie broth or stew,curry etc allow higher temp? While cooking that is

Nope. It just allows better heat transfer to get everything to the same temperature. (100C). You need pressure to go higher.
You need to worry about 3 botulism components.
Toxin- destroyed by boiling. This is what kills you
Live bacteria - destroyed by boiling but will grow without any air and produce toxin in a stored can/bottle/bag.
Spores which can reactivate and form new live bacteria. These are tough little b@st@rds which can survive several minutes at 125C.
I think the food tech term is "botulinum kill process". Google should give more detail but I think you will need to shell out for a pressure canner and special bags

[Omega]

Well, because the container is sealed and boiling water doesn’t escape, you can achieve higher temperatures for boiling water. However, I wonder if the bags won’t explode from high pressure… Bearing in mind that higher temperatures mean plastic is easier to give in
While there is little evidence (I would say none) my sealing bags will take this excessive temperature, I should be prudent and be on the side of the caution and don’t trust it
Are there easy to buy higher pressure sealing bags? That’s now the question