We've spent the last month or so looking into the status of BPA, PVC and phthalates in food processors and blenders to add them to the ZRecs Guide. The kitchen appliance industry seems to be a year or more behind the baby product industry in its awareness of plastics concerns and their ability to access and share information about the materials they use. Some company reps expressed confusion about ingredients present in plastics, making numerous misstatements about plastic types and their own products, and one company's customer service reps didn't know what BPA, PVC or phthalates are. It was very reminiscent of the earliest calls we made to baby bottle companies a couple of years ago.

Thankfully, we're trained for this. After multiple cold calls, store checks to cross-reference any stamps or markings on the plastic parts of each company's products, and discussions with high-level representatives at most of the companies below, we have collected enough information to warrant a post outlining the relative chemical safety of the U.S. food processor and blender market.

Each of the brands below have been added to the ZRecs Guide to Safer Children's Products, where findings can be filtered by what type of chemicals you'd like to avoid and what we call a "Confidence Rating."

ZRecs Guide listings are flagged with Chemicals of Concern - substances that may be present in the products - along with a Confidence Rating denoting our level of confidence in that particular chemical profile. A Confidence Rating of "low" means that we do not have much faith that we have the whole story - a product might not contain the Chemical of Concern it has been flagged with, or might contain others; a Confidence Rating of "high" means that we are highly confident we know the whole story, and would be quite surprised to learn otherwise.

As you'll see here, depending on your priorities and your planned use of the products below, you may need to make some compromises. But with the information in hand, those compromises are within your control. We hope it's helpful to you!

Beaba

The Beaba BabyCook is BPA, PVC, and phthalate-free. We wrote about this product's story a while ago.

Cuisinart

Cuisinart's large food processor bowls are made of Lexan, a brand-name polycarbonate, and contain BPA.

Cuisinart customer service representatives initially told ZRecs that the hard, clear plastic bowls and lids of products such as the food grinder and mini food processors are made with polypropylene, but the company's public relations department refused to confirm this, told us that the customer service department "shouldn't have said that," and would not state whether the products contain BPA. The bowls and lids of this product, labeled number 7 (and "other" plastics category which includes polycarbonate), appear to be made of polycarbonate plastic; this would be consistent with Cuisinart's larger food processors, many of which are labeled as being made of Lexan (the "brand-name" version of polycarbonate). Alternately, they may be made of SAN (a styrene).

Cuisinart's blender jars are made of glass; lids are labeled "#7," although this seems unlikely to be polycarbonate. Cuisinart will not state what plastic type the blender blade base is made from or whether any parts contain BPA, PVC, or phthalates. The food processor bowl and lid included with some of their blenders are made of SAN and are unlikely to contain BPA.

Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex

Hamilton Beach's PR rep was one of the best we've worked with, a clear contrast to Cuisinart's confused and confusing public relations strategy. She worked quickly and efficiently to get us the information we needed, and did not hesitate to tell us which parts of their products are made of BPA-containing polycarbonate, knowing full well that this would be considered a negative feature by our readers. This is the kind of company we like to deal with, both professionally in our blogging, and as consumers.

Officials at Hamilton Beach stated that the blade attachment for both the glass and plastic blender jars is made of polycarbonate. Depending on the model, the lid is made of either polypropylene or PVC; lids which are made of PVC do contain phthalates.

Hamilton Beach and Proctor-Silex food processors and food choppers are made of SAN and POM or ABS. (All of these materials are believed to be BPA- and phthalate-free.)

We have updated information on the chemicals in Hamilton Beach products in this follow-up post.

KitchenAid

All Kitchenaid food processors have bowls and lids made of polycarbonate, and thus contain BPA. Glass blender jars have been discontinued; current blender jars are also made of polycarbonate. Blender lids are made from PVC, but company representatives stated they did not know whether this PVC contained phthalates. For what it's worth, it is likely that they do.

Vita-Mix

The new model of the Vita-Mix blender, the 5200, is BPA-, PVC-, and phthalate-free. The jar is made of Tritan copolymer, the new plastic Nalgene and others are using for hard plastic sports bottles. You can purchase it from Vita-Mix's website. Please note that all other Vita-Mix blenders have polycarbonate jars, and thus contain BPA.

A lot of information, we know. We have two ways for you to cut through all of this information and find a product that's right for you. One is the ZRecs Guide itself - just select your product area or brand and you can drill down into our listings to find the best matches for your family.

The other is a slate of quick recommendations, which you'll find below. (We're still seeking information about Black & Decker and Oster blenders and food processors; we've placed repeated calls to Oster COO James Lille and are waiting on Black & Decker to pass back information from their R&D department. So you won't find either of those brands represented here.)

Recommendations: Blenders

If you can afford a $500 blender, by all means buy the Vita-Mix 5200. It's a top-of-the-line blender that can handle whole grains and whole plant foods and get the most nutrition out of them, and thus does a lot of the work a food processor can do if you like your food pureed.

Otherwise, we'd recommend the Hamilton Beach's Wave Power Plus blender, and advise against using it for hot foods (use a good immersion blender instead). Wash the plastic parts by hand (the blade attachment and lid) and you should be minimizing exposure to the BPA and phthalates present in this product. Avoid some of the cheaper Hamilton Beach blenders which, like most cheap blenders across brands, get poor reviews.

Recommendations: Food processors

For food processors, Hamilton Beach offers a welcome shift in both openness and materials safety compared with Cuisinart and Kitchenaid. All Hamilton Beach and Proctor-Silex food processors and food choppers are believed to be BPA-, pthalate-, and PVC-free, as they contain no food-contact PVC or polycarbonate parts. We recommend Hamilton Beach's Big Mouth Food Processors, which get predominantly positive reviews in high numbers on Amazon.com; these food processors retail at $100-$150, but are on sale for about $65-$95 at the moment.

If you're interested in a multi-functional device for preparing homemade baby food, the Beaba Babycook has received high marks from ZRecs readers as well as reviewers on other sites.

Update: A reader comment brings up another great product we should note here. We haven't yet collected data across brands for immersion blenders, but we did get details on the plastics used in the Bosch Mixxo when we were offered one for consideration for the Tranquil Parent Gift Guide late last year. The Bosch Mixxo is a rechargeable immersion blender that comes with an interchangeable mini food processor. It has a charging station for your counter that holds both the top motor part and the stainless steel immersion stick. It also comes with a pitcher for making smoothies or blending other things and lids for both the pitcher and the food processor bowl. It has a safety lock for blending to protect your fingers. Bosch representatives told us that the Mixxo uses no polycarbonate or PVC in food contact parts and is thus free of BPA and phthalates. (The clear plastic parts are styrene.) Some other immersion blenders may be free of these chemicals - we just haven't taken on that research area yet - but we do know the Mixxo is a great product, and recommend it if an immersion blender suits your needs. It runs about $100 on Amazon.com.

Questions?

Check out the full Food Prep section of the ZRecs Guide here, and let us know if you have any questions!