Plastic wrap
thin plastic film typically used for sealing food
Plastic wrap, cling film, Saran wrap, cling wrap, Glad wrap or food wrap is a thin plastic film typically used for sealing food items in containers to keep them fresh over a longer period of time. Plastic wrap, typically sold on rolls in boxes with a cutting edge, clings to many smooth surfaces and can thus remain tight over the opening of a container without adhesive. Common plastic wrap is roughly 12.7 μm (0.0005 in) thick. The trend has been to produce thinner plastic wrap, particularly for household use (where very little stretch is needed), so now the majority of brands on shelves around the world are 8, 9 or 10 μm thick.
Materials used
Plastic wrap was initially created from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which remains the most common component globally. PVC has an acceptably-low permeability to water vapor and oxygen, helping to preserve the freshness of food. There are concerns about the transfer of plasticizers from PVC into food. Pliofilm was made of various kinds of rubber chloride. Used in the middle of the 20th century, it could be heat-sealed.
A common, cheaper alternative to PVC is low-density polyethylene (LDPE).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Plastic wrap” is thin plastic film typically used for sealing food. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Plastic, wrap and thin, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “thin plastic film typically used for sealing food” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 23, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q356700. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Plastic wrap” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.