[Nhcoll-l] vacuum sealers

[Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)]

On this topic, has anyone ever had the problem of customs officials opening the bag to inspect the contents, and then the bag not being resealed (and specimen drying out)? Seems to me the one potential downside of heat sealing.

Cheers,

Tonya

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Bentley, Andrew Charles
Sent: Thursday, 10 September 2020 2:30 AM
To: Charles M. Dardia <cmd7 at cornell.edu>
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] vacuum sealers

Charles

No, have never used a vacuum sealer and not sure if it would have any adverse effects on the specimens – maybe drawing moisture and preservative out of the specimens during shipping or maybe even damaging small bones or cartilaginous structures in the specimen due to shrinkage.  I guess you could stop the vacuum process before it gets to that point?  I usually use a regular bag sealer for fish and leave a small amount of air in the bag to act as a pillow of protection for the specimens inside – even though we also use packing peanuts and a sturdy box when shipping.

Andy

     A  :                A  :               A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
     V                   V                  V
Andy Bentley
Ichthyology Collection Manager
University of Kansas
Biodiversity Institute
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
USA

Tel: (785) 864-3863
Fax: (785) 864-5335
Email: abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>
http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu<http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu/>

     A  :                A  :                A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
     V                   V                   V


From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> on behalf of Charles Dardia <cmd7 at cornell.edu<mailto:cmd7 at cornell.edu>>
Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 11:12 AM
To: "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>" <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] vacuum sealers

Has any one had success using a vacuum sealer to prepare loans of wet specimens (fish) for shipping?
Charles

Charles M. Dardia
Collections Manager
Cornell Museum of Vertebrates
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 254-2161
http://cumv.cornell.edu/<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcumv.cornell.edu%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cabentley%40ku.edu%7C7d49c0898b7e41e9a93208d854db2c95%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C1%7C637352647609135345&sdata=AkCaDRtqu%2BHvImkYCDlK6mUZr8jDteMAjElxXrv5E5M%3D&reserved=0>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20200909/6f6ce9bb/attachment.html>