Wow- thanks for the update.  It’s very disappointing that a company like Sassy misreports so many products.

As a consumer, my confidence is always shaken when a company cannot or will not give me accurate information.

We’ll be crossing Sassy off our shopping list until we’re convinced that they’re concerned about parents’ health concerns and truly accountable for their actions.

Yes, thanks for the update!
Will the new Z report include anything about baby formula? I’m an adoptive mom, and I belong to several adoption groups. People are always asking about formula and bottles. For the bottles, I send them here. But I believe that the EWG is the only source of info on baby formula.
Thanks again for the hard work!

@Robyn, Infant formula will be covered in our new format. As for previous reporting, we have written about formulas before - we did an exhaustive survey in the style of our other Z Reports, which we published in May, along with a handy chart. You can find it here

Dagnabbit! I just bought some of the listed spoons because they had been reported BPA-free! And of course I no longer have the packaging, so there’s no taking them back. Humbug. It’s the kind of thing that makes me want to avoid Sassy products altogether, except for the point the post makes about Sassy’s willingness to cooperate with requests for more detailed information. It’s so frustrating.

WOW!  I am so upset by this.  I have been very diligent in researching products and searching BPA free alternatives. The above list indentifies 95% of my son’s thought to be BPA free items as containing BPA!!!  So can someone please post what items, feeding bowls, spoons, and sippy cups, are truly are BPA free?  I’d love to adopt all glass but frankly, that is not an option with a wild toddler boy.

@Liz: We’ll have that ready for you within a week. In the meantime, you can check out our latest Z Report on BPA or try one of these companies (and this is really quick, so apologies to anyone I’m leaving out):

Trainer cups and sippys: Thinkbaby, Born Free, KidBasix (their SafeSippy has been overhauled and works well now), Boon, Klean Kanteen, Thermos. The stainless steel will run you $15-$20 but the plastic (PES) ones are under $10 or so. For safer plastics, adjust your thinking a bit on price.

Utensils and such: Look through our Z Report. Everyone who makes baby feeding utensils and bowls makes some that is BPA-free, most make some that is not. Check Gerber, Nuby, Munchkin, etc. and you’ll find links to products the companies have reported as BPA-free. Born Free and Thinkbaby will both be coming out with some feeding products (tableware), by the time you’re ready for it they should be ready for you.

We recently bought the “Go BPA Free Beginning Solids Kit” from The Soft Landing which includes the Sassy Extra Gentle spoons, so I checked their web site and did not see any notification from them regarding Sassy’s announcement. I know a number of people (myself included) who have purchased from that site specifically wanting BPA free products. We’ll be checking to see what kind of exchange we can get for another set of spoons.

is avent a safe bottle???

Hi Erik,

We were surprised to learn of this situation only after this article was posted.  In no way has Sassy made an announcement.  We are not making any assumptions that this info is correct.

We are currently in communications directly with Sassy working to either confirm or refute the information provided here.  We are still waiting for the final verdict.

To err on the side of caution, we’ve removed all Sassy products from our Go BPA Free Kits, and will not be selling any of their products until further notice.  We encourage our concerned customers to contact us directly at info [at] thesoftlanding.com

You’ll find that we’ve posted advisements on both our blog and our store addressing the situation.  We’ll update everyone on our findings as soon as possible.

@Erik and all: We notified the Soft Landing of this issue immediately upon publication of our findings early yesterday morning. We have yet to receive a direct response from Alicia, and as of this comment, there does not appear to be any notice on her blog. I am sure it will be posted soon.

The information we have published was provided to us directly from the Sassy team after consulting directly with the technical experts in their R&D group. Company representatives provided us with a complete list of product SKUs and matched them up personally with the product names. This information was provided directly to us, not as a formal company press release. We stand by the information as the single best source of detailed data on Sassy products provided to us, and suspect it is the best information provided to anyone to date.

We have now forwarded the complete materials list provided to us by Sassy for Alicia’s personal review.

This makes me so upset because I too got Sassy products from The Soft Landing believing they were BPA free. I thought BPA was only in clear hard plastic and these items were not that. Guess I have to be careful of everything again.

@Lisa, This is a common misconception we have always worked to counteract. We have seen many items with non-clear plastic - many opaque plastic flip-tops for sippy cups and valves, for example - that contain BPA. The presence of it in a color-changing material is news to us, as well. It is not something we knew to be wary of before, and we will be questioning other companies more closely if they use this type of plastic.

As always, though, we all do what we can! The end result of your efforts to date is reducing your child or childrens’ exposure to this chemical, and this is all we can hope for with a chemical that government thus far refuses to regulate.

wow, this is infuriating.  Thank you very much for posting the info.  I really, really value this website as a resource.

Hello All!  I am so upset about this.  I bought a number of these products a while ago. I have been using them, don’t have receipt or packing material So, I say call Sassy:

2305 Breton Industrial Park Dr. SE
Kentwood, MI 49508
ph:  616-243-0767
fx:  616-243-1042

I did and asked for my money back.  She said she is going to have to talk to somebody about it.  So, call and ask!  The more that we do the more they will have to take us seriously on this issue!

mel

Just spoke with Sassy and they are going to swap out the BPA spoons with non-BPA ones. 

Good job Sassy!!! Customer service was very nice!

Also, according to the woman I just spoke with the less mess toddler spoon, which seems to be pictured above, doesn’t have BPA in it.

melanie

@Melanie: Nice work! Let’s be careful about stating definitively whether items in question are actually BPA-free, though, based on customer service rep statements from Sassy. Remember, we acquired different information from the R&D folks at the company than what customer service was stating during our product research calls, which is how we got to this point in the first place.

Melanie, You’re so right! We should be calling Sassy to rectify this problem!! Also, I noticed the Less Mess spoons too, and I’ve been told they’re BPA free. And the bowl pictured above is BPA free...it’s the spoon that comes with it that isn’t. We just have to be very vigilant, even with this new information. Like Jeremiah said, they too have gotten two different stories from Sassy...maybe this information could be faulty in some way.

@Beth and Melanie: The Less Mess Toddler spoon is not pictured in this post, or included in our list. Maybe the product you’re noticing is actually this one, the Flexi Grip Spoon and Fork, which we were told does have BPA in it, or the EZ Grip Fork and Spoon (shown here, along with the BPA-containing Color Change Fork and Spoon, which was left out of the picture). Here is a picture of the Less Mess spoon.

I’ve noticed that the Soft Landing is also taking returns on at least some of the above items (maybe their list includes all the ones they were selling) if purchased from their store.

We have not heard anything that would cause us to question this latest information, which we received from the best sources at the company. We take great care before publishing information like this, particularly when it is obviously going to cause a lot of frustration. That said, to err is human - if we do find anything in need of correction, we won’t hesitate to publicize it.

Can anyone comment on whether the dual compartment bowl (shown in blue w/ the color changing spoon) contains BPA, or is it just the spoon?  I own ton of these which is upsetting, but more upsetting to know my son’s been feed BPA toxins for 6 months!

Do you know if the take n toss color changing spoons contain BPA.  It was previously reported that they did not, but if the color changing Sassy spoons contain BPA, then these might also...??

Hi, I would like to know if BABYMOOV BEBEDELICE blender/steamer/warmer contains BPA? thank you..

i just want to know what damage this has done to my son - how infuriating. i had a bad feeling about the color changing spoons when they were given to me, i should have gone with my instinct.

i contacted sassy, and they gave me this list as pba/free based on the items pictured above:
Flexi grip toddler fork & spoon - CONTAINS BPA

Ø Color change fork & spoon - THESE CONTAIN BPA

Ø Less mess toddler spoon - BPA FREE

Ø Xtra gentle toddler spoon - BPA FREE

Ø Ez grip feeding bowl - BPA FREE

Ø Insulated feeding pots - BPA FREE

Ø Ez infant feeding bowl with spoon - BOWL IS BPA FREE SPOON CONTAINS BPA

This is so disappointing.  I have been buying Sassy for a while as I felt they were more on top of things than the other major brands.  I really have bought a bunch of Sassy things (quite a few not on this list- thank goodness).  However, it is hard to trust the other products are what they say they are too. 

The bath toys containing PVC stinks, as it was the only bath time toy I allowed my son to have and even used them as teething toys because I thought they were safe.  I am back to wood toys and am in search of a new bath toy for my son.

I just contacted Sassy and they said not to throw anything out.  They asked what products I had and said they would be getting back with a response.  I hope other people call so they know that parents do care about PVC and BPA in their products.

I emailed sassy customer support regarding a flip phone toy i bought.  the paint started chipping off, so they sent me a SASE envelope to my house so i can send the toy back to them, + the items i purchased that contain PBA.  thankfully, these items were the spoons...they also sent me a replacement toy that is pba free…

oh, i forgot to write that when i emailed sassy i stated that i wanted to send the items back to get a refund/exchange from them since i no longer had the receipt, but that with an infant i didn’t have time to go to the store and get an envelope and then the post office… customer support was very helpful, and sent the prepaid envelope asap.  do the same if you can…

My wife contacted thesoftlanding.com in regards to exchanging the spoons in the Go BPA Free kit we had purchases and they were awesome! Very accommodating and they even helped select replacement spoons for us, so thank you for that and your response, Alicia, in this thread.

Both thesoftlanding, and ZRecommends are great. Thanks for all of your hard work. I heard about this site from your appearance on the GeekDads podcast and have been a reader ever since.

Hello, all.  This is certainly disappointing but a good lesson that the company representative that happens to get back to you may not have accurate information.

I have a comment and question regarding the PVC bath toys that are reportedly free of phthalates and BPA.  My understanding is that the health problem with PVC are the phthalates that are often present.  Therefore, I would imagine that the PVC toys that are phthalate-free are safe to use.  Does anyone have any good information and sources on this?  The information on http://www.healthytoys.org/chemicals.chlorine.php seems to indicate there are other environmental issues with PVC but the health risks is due to phthalates.

@Lisa,

We work with companies to get the most accurate information available. Some companies will not give us access to high-level representatives or experts, which does make their information less reliable. When we are forced to rely on customer service reps for our information we make multiple calls to ensure that their story is at least consistent (with some companies, it isn’t). When we launch our new ZRecs Guide to Safer Children’s Products, we will include confidence ratings for every item listed, based on the source of the information at the company, the manner in which it was provided, and the company’s known track record for accuracy.

Thank you so much for this information.  I am throwing out the color change infant feeding spoons and the softy ducky right now.

I don’t know what I would do without ZRecommends!

Others have reported getting refunds from Sassy, so don’t be afraid to try. You might hang onto those items until you call them - their # is 616-243-0767.

How frustrating. I, too, bought the spoons and bowl because I thought they were BPA-free. I understand why you’re cheering them for being honest now, but why in the world were they not honest in the first place??

Jenna, I don’t know if “cheering” is the right word. Getting this information at all is a tightrope act. We cannot compel companies to do so, and many times they weigh the cost of talking against the cost of clamming up.

I think in this case - and this is just a guess - there was a lack of awareness at the proper levels of the company of where BPA might be found in their products. When we pushed for R&D;info based on discrepancies we were hearing in the marketplace, they looked, saw something unpleasant, and released the information anyway. They could have buried it, and as painful as this process has been for the company, we are doing our best to make sure they don’t take that as a lesson learned.

I do understand that, and I can’t applaud you enough for all you do to help us get the straight story. I hope you didn’t take that as a knock on you or Zrecs at all. I’ve had my own run-ins with companies being less than honest about their products’ BPA status (Playtex), and it infuriates me. I fed my daughter with those Sassy spoons and bowls exclusively because of their purported BPA-free status, and now I know that either because of the company’s carelessness or dishonesty, I could have put her in danger. So to them I say: glad you finally disclosed the truth. Shame on you for not disclosing it from the start. I hope that the “lesson learned” here is to look into these matters as soon as the issue is raised and be transparent in your dealings with concerned consumers, not just after the noose tightens around your neck.

Agreed. No offense taken, and we do share your frustration.

Hi!
i have a question about
Nuk pacifiers.
I bought them as a bpa free option to our old avent pacifiers.You guys first said that they are safe but now you claim that they do contain BPA right?
I live in Canada and on the babiesrus web site they have listed NUK as bpa free as well as many other web sites that sell them ...
I trust Zrec more than some big store chain because i found about bpa right here on this blog :) But i just want to double check
Is it time to buy BORN FREE PACIFIERS because NUKS just not safe anymore???
Thank you

Hi Ella, We currently list NUK pacifiers as likely to contain BPA because we have received conflicting statements from Gerber representative over months of inquiries. If you do wish to avoid BPA in pacifiers and have confidence in your choice, I would recommend going with another brand!

Hello~

So the snap and squirt sea creatures contain BPA? It says above that they are listed as BPA/phthalate free but that they contain it. How do we know they have it? Did Sassy confirm those as well. Could you just clarify this? Thanks so much!

Hi Erin,

Sorry if our language above confused you. No, they are still stated to be free of phthalates and BPA, but are made with PVC. PVC is a concern to some parents for environmental reasons, as it is a very costly plastic to produce in terms of environmental hazards and waste. Additionally, other suspect chemicals are sometimes used to stabilize PVC, including lead.

Whoops :) totally missed the PVC comment.  So essentially a product made with PVC can be phthalate and BPA free? Can products with PVC contain phthalates though? It all seems confusing and it is tough to really know about all the products out there. Thanks again!

Yes, Erin, PVC can be made without phthalates. We have never (knowingly) encountered PVC made with BPA.

It is generally true that any PVC without phthalates will be hard, not pliable or soft, because phthalates are used as a softener for the material, which is otherwise quite stiff.

This is disappointing. But what’s more disappointing to me as a pet owner is that I can’t find BPA free dog toys. Even worse, I can’t find information about BPA in dog toys, which I suspect is there. Dogs explore the world with their mouths just as much or more as babies/toddlers. Because at least children grow out of that stage, dogs don’t.

Condo Blues: We’ve seen BPA-free dog toys at The Soft Landing - also at another online shop I was just looking at today but can’t find now.

I am a student doing research and i deff think that before giving stuff to your children you should check if it is one of the brands that have bpa.