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Supermarket plastic bags are made of high density polyethylene, and I am interested in the decomposition products at high temperature: what type of compounds are released and how dangerous are they? I am interested in a situation where one has placed some kind of heated food inside one of these plastic bags.
The question is, are harmful compounds from the plastic bag passed into the food (food is hot, like baked bread) contained inside the plastic bag?
Polyethylene is generally considered suitable for food handling and even for warming food. Unlike some plastics such as polycarbonate, it does not need an additional plasticizer that could be toxic.
That said, the melting point of polyethylene is ~1150C, and I've found that it tends to shrink-wrap around microwaved food. For that reason, polypropylene, m.p. ~1300C, is often used for food containers intended for microwave oven use and for automatic dish-washing.
BTW, both polyethylene and polypropylene absorb some of the natural lycopene coloring of tomatoes or other carotenoid pigments and slowly develop a pale brown discoloration that cannot be removed, but that is of no significance.
