How to Properly Seal Your Mylar

Bags for Food Storage

How to Seal Mylar Bags for Food Storage

How to Seal Mylar Bags Easily for Long Term Food Storage Custom Printed Stand Up Pouches

Sealing your mylar bags after loading them is the critical last step before your bulk product is ready to leave your facility and journey to your customer. If your printed mylar bags are not properly or adequately sealed, your product could fall out of its container or prematurely go stale in the pantry, neither of which is ideal for your customer.

Unfortunately, sealing mylar bags is not as easy as simply closing a zipper or tying closed a mylar food storage bag with a zip tie. You’ll need special equipment and the proper know-how to seal mylar bags properly. In this guide, you’ll learn how to properly seal mylar bags for long term food storage and transport.

Types of Food Storage Sealing Options

When it comes to properly (and professionally) sealing mylar storage bags for storing

long-term, there are four different options: impulse sealing, direct heat sealing, band sealing, or chamber vacuum sealing. Each has its own pros and cons, which you can learn more about below.

Impulse Seal

Impulse seals are inexpensive (starting at around $30 - $100) and provide a quick seal using a pulse of energy through the seal bars. Impulse sealers only turn on when the sealing bars are lowered onto the vacuum seal rolls.

Positives	Negatives
Inexpensive	Less control that band sealers
Instant Sealing	Small Seal zone
Best for occasional use	Manual bag line up creates inconsistent seals

Manual Foot Pedal Sealing Machine Direct Heat Sealer for Bags and Films with Printer and Heating Sealing Machine and Impulse Sealing Machine

Direct Heat Manual Seal

Direct heat sealers maintain consistent and constant heat as long as they are turned on. This can allow for better heat penetration and better seal tack.

Positives	Negatives
Best for thick materials	Cannot seal polyethylene
Industrial bags o irregular bags	Slower than band sealers

Band Seal

A band sealer is a semiautomatic sealing machine. Unlike a manual sealer, a band sealer contains both heating and cooling elements. The hot and cool elements combine to create strong, durable, and professional seals on your bags. These direct heat-style sealers typically have separate controls for both temperature and dwell time. A small conveyor with speed controls will pull your bag through the sealing mechanisms, and once set up, hundreds of bags can be processed at one time.

Positives	Negatives
Very consistent seals seal hundreds of bags in a single use	More expensive $500+
Accessories such as date code, serial number stamping	Not ideal for sealing a few bags occasionally

Chamber Vacuum Seal

Chamber vacuum sealers can be used to seal certain types of mylar bags. These machines are different than the traditional “at home” or food-saving type vacuum sealers that are used by preppers in their home kitchen to vacuum seal bags. A chamber vacuum sealer will both vacuum out most of the air from the bag and also heat seal it at the same time.

Positives	Negatives
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Using an impulse sealer to seal mylar bags

If you have an impulse sealer, here’s a visual of how you’d use it to seal a mylar bag. We’ll walk you through the process step-by-step below.

Tips for Sealing Mylar Bags

If you’ve never sealed mylar bags before, here are some tips that can help:

The exact dial setting will vary depending on the thickness of your mylar bag, the ambient temperature, and whether there has been any fouling (foreign debris) that got into the seal area.

Start with a lower setting and work your way up. You’re looking for a “just right” temperature where the inner sealant layer of the mylar bag fully melts together, but not too hot where the bag is deformed or fully melts. If the seal is too cold then the sealant layer will not fully melt together, and you’ll have a very weak seal.

If you pull too much of a vacuum on your mylar bag, you’ll rip the bag. To create a high vacuum, certain types of mylar material like CareSilver-PVNP must be used.

Some products are very oxygen-sensitive, and exposure to oxygen causes oxidation and spoilage. An oxygen absorber can extend the shelf life of these products.

An optional step to seal your mylar bags is to perform a nitrogen flush. With nitrogen flushing, the sealing machine will first vacuum out most of the air from the pouch, then replace it with.

Mylar Bag Sealing: FAQs

Here are a few of the questions we get a lot about sealing mylar bags for food storage. For more information, feel free to contact us directly.

Q: What thickness of seal should be used?

Impulse sealers typically offer 2mm, 5mm, or 10mm seals. While thicker is usually better, you’ll want to adjust the thickness based on the type of product and bag. A 2mm seal is usually only suitable for thin polybags, most mylar bags should have at least a 5mm seal applied to it (for prospective ¼” is about 6.35mm), a 8mm or greater seal is often required to prevent bag bursting.

Here are some typical considerations:

Matching the other seals on your bag.

Sealing the entire “top” of the bag is sometimes required.

Note: make sure that you never seal through or below the tear notch. Doing so will make your bag unable to be opened except by using scissors.

Q: Do you have to vacuum seal mylar bags for food storage?

No, you don’t.

Q: What foods cannot be stored in mylar bags?

Although most foods can be stored in mylar bags, there are some exceptions. Foods high in moisture or oil (raisins, nuts, granola, cookies, chocolate, crackers, brown rice) are not good candidates for storage in a mylar bag.

Q: Do you need a special vacuum sealer for mylar bags?

Yes, you’d need a chamber vacuum sealer. At-home food saver sealers cannot seal these mylar bags because they require the bag to have an embossed pattern to fill the air.

Q: How much heat does it take to seal a mylar bag?

It varies. You will likely need to go through a period of trial and error before determining what amount of heat is required.

Q: Do you offer custom sized beauty packaging?

Sealing bags for food storage is similar to sealing bags for retail. The key consideration includes investing in an inexpensive impulse sealer and adding oxygen absorbers, if necessary.