Questions and suggestions from readers drive a significant portion of our product research at Z Recommends. We've decided to start sharing more of our answers in the form of posts to help answer questions we see as particularly pressing or those we answer frequently. Our first post in this series concerns BPA in infant formula packaging.

Dear ZRecs,

I have been following all of the reports on BPA that you publish on your blog, and it is very much appreciated! I was interested to find out if you had any information on the new packaging that Similac is offering called the Similac SimplePac? Thanks in advance for any information that you can provide.

Karen

Dear ZRecs,

I just got off the phone with Abbott Labs who told me that the new Similac Simplepac container does NOT contain BPA in any of the parts that come in contact with the powder. Just wondering if you all had contacted them too. I couldn't find this information online anywhere.

Pam

Hi Karen and Pam,

Unfortunately, the statement Pam was given is a careful bit of subterfuge formula companies use to suggest that their products' packaging is free of BPA. What the company will likely state when you call is actually that "all plastic parts coming into contact with the formula" are BPA-free. Many companies favor this line when we've called for information, and further digging always reveals that they are most definitely not speaking about the foil seal.

Similac's new "Simplepac" packaging had us hopeful that the company was quietly rolling out a BPA-free alternative for powdered infant formula. The plastic packaging has a scoop stored in the lid and a new website complete with a "tour" of the new package. (If a miniaturized Ty Pennington standing at the bottom of a formula container and declaring it "awesome" can't convince consumers to switch brands, I don't know what will.) Unfortunately, the switch is instead concerned with tackling various inconveniences (No more digging for the scoop! Ergonomic hand grip!) but doesn't solve the problem of Bisphenol-A in the foil seal under the lid, which comes in direct contact with formula until the consumer removes it at the tail end of the product's life cycle.

The foil lids that make direct contact with powdered formula in both Similac's new packaging and traditional cardboard drum packages have a lengthy period of contact with the formula under varying storage conditions. The companies that won't admit to the presence of BPA in this foil seal won't contest the assertion, either, and it appears to be an industry standard, much as BPA in cans is. Although it is unclear how much BPA may migrate into powdered formula from these seals (the only tests we've heard of are managed entirely by the manufacturers themselves, with no oversight and no published results), we think it shouldn't be there, and that it poses an unnecessary risk to children. Ready-to-feed and concentrated formulas are also sold in cans which are lined with an epoxy which contains BPA, and powdered formula is likely to contain less, for a variety of reasons.

The only truly BPA-free formula packaging options we've found are Similac's ready-to-feed liquid in the one-quart container (not glass jars) and Similac and Enfamil's individual powdered formula packets. Numerous scientific and environmental groups are currently pushing for legislation banning the use of BPA in any food contact material.

For more information, read our full report on BPA in infant formulas; sadly, nothing much has changed in the industry since we published it in May.

Do you have a question you'd like to see answered here? Send it to us at editors (at) zrecs (dot) com.