Bicarb from a Chemist or the Supermarket?

What is The Difference Between Bicarbonate of Soda Bought from a Chemist and Bicarb Bought In Supermarkets?

Answer: There is no difference. All of the bicarb will be about as useful as a wet organic cotton sock used as a beanie during a winter storm while stuck on Mt Everest.

Bicarbonate of soda is made to absorb chemicals, odours and air particle residues. It was used in 9/11 to soak up the chemical residue… Pharmacies/Chemists sell fragrances, often scattering ‘tester bottles’ of Britney Spears, J Lo and Paris sporadically and spastically around consumer goods so that consumers can ‘try’ them on. (What does this say about a person’s state of mind if they want to ‘smell’ like someone else in particular? I could take this post to a whole new level, psychologically, but I won’t… not today.) Therefore, the longer the box—usually cardboard—is in the shop, the more and more and more fragrance chemicals it will absorb.

Supermarkets, however, sell a whole lot more products with fragrance chemicals outgassing into the air (washing powders and fabric softeners and dryer sheets and shampoos and conditioners and every personal care product you can even possibly dream or have nightmares about. Plus! They sell sinister products like Linx/Axe, which are not only evil, and contain fragrance chemicals but also Solvents and Butane and Petrochemicals: Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCS) that help disperse fragrance chemicals into the air, and onto everything else they subsequently adhere to. They also stock Herbicides, such as Roundup (in the same room as the food!); and Pesticides for every pest a woman or man may want to snuff out get rid of. (And, don’t even think about all the Phthalates and Synthetic Musks lurking around joint!) All of these are going to be in your bicarbonate of soda.

Solution(s):

(A) If you are not chemically sensitive, open the packet and sniff the contents, either in the store (or outside, after you pay for it) then return it, complaining that it reeks of Paris Hilton, or whoever or whatever you can smell, and it’s, “unfit for purpose”. Then go to option (B)

(B) If you are chemically sensitive, and breathing in the chemical residues make you ill (therefore, you can’t sniff before you buy) or you are not chemically sensitive, you just prefer not to sniff this crap, then get it online from a store that sells only fragrance free products or, preferably, only food, or, even more preferably, organic food. If you use it solely for clothes washing you need to source it in bulk.

Remember, bicarbonate of soda is food grade, therefore, it’s not suitable to be bought from places that sell chemicals. Oh, God! Especially if you plan to cook with it!

Have you had success (or not) buying Bicarbonate of Soda, lately?  Please share…

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