When it comes to baby food, packaging isn’t just about convenience — it’s a decision that impacts your child’s health, your peace of mind, and our planet.
While plastic pouches have become a popular choice, we believe glass jars offer a safer and more sustainable solution. Here’s why we made this decision at Little Judah — and why it matters for you and your baby.
When baby food is heated, stored, and eaten straight from its container, the material matters. Glass jars are chemically inert — meaning they don’t leach harmful substances into the food — even when exposed to high temperatures during sterilisation.
Many baby food pouches today use PP as their food-contact layer. While PP is often marketed as BPA- and phthalate-free, emerging research tells a different story:
Although often labeled as “safe,” PP is far from risk-free. Studies now show it can leach unknown chemicals and shed millions of microplastic particles — raising serious concerns about its use in baby food packaging.
Baby food is sterilized at temperatures ranging from 115–127°C — and heat is a well-known trigger that accelerates chemicals and microplastics leaching from plastic pouches.
Since babies eat proportionally more than adults for their body weight — and have immature livers and kidneys — even small amounts of unknown substances could have long-term health effects.
Glass jars eliminate this risk. No harmful leaching. No hidden toxins. Just clean, safe food — the way it should be.
Baby food pouches (retort pouches), are made from multiple layers of materials like polypropylene, polyester, nylon, and aluminium. These layers are fused together, making them extremely difficult — and often impossible — to separate for recycling.
As a result, only a small number of specialised facilities around the world can process them, meaning most end up in landfills.
Even when plastic is recycled, it doesn't hold up well. The process weakens the material by shortening its polymer chains — a phenomenon known as downcycling. This leads to lower-quality plastic with limited future use. Eventually, even recycled plastic becomes non-recyclable waste.
In reality, only about 9% of plastic waste is ever recycled. The rest either gets incinerated, sent to landfill, or pollutes our environment.
Unlike plastic, glass can be recycled endlessly without any loss in quality or purity. According to the UN Climate Technology Centre & Network, the global glass recycling rate hovers around 50%. However, recycling performance varies widely depending on the country and the type of glass used.
Europe leads the way — with 70% of glass bottles collected, and 90% of those transformed into new bottles through a closed-loop system. This means old glass becomes new glass, again and again, without degrading.
In short: glass is genuinely sustainable. Plastic is not.
At first glance, plastic may seem like the more energy-efficient choice. Producing a 12-ounce plastic bottle requires 3.75 megajoules (MJ), while a glass bottle uses about 6.57 MJ. However, when glass is recycled, the energy required drops by approximately 40% — thanks to cullet, or crushed recycled glass, which melts at a lower temperature than raw materials.
Even better? Reusing glass requires no additional energy at all.
While plastic may appear efficient upfront, it carries a long-term environmental cost that glass simply doesn’t.
Glass may take thousands of years to degrade, but it stays chemically stable and doesn’t leach toxins. In contrast, plastic never truly decomposes.
Instead, it breaks down into microplastics — tiny particles that pollute our oceans, infiltrate the air we breathe, and even enter the food we eat.
According to the United Nations, the world produces over 400 million tonnes of plastic waste each year — more than the total weight of the human population.
Experts agree: reusable systems are the only viable long-term solution. But baby food pouches, made from multi-layered materials, cannot be reused. That makes them part of the growing waste crisis.
Despite this, many brands continue to promote recycling as a fix — a message increasingly criticised as greenwashing. As Lisa Ramsden, Senior Plastics Campaigner at Greenpeace USA, puts it:
“The real solution is to switch to systems of reuse and refill.”
At Little Judah, we’re committed to being part of that real solution — not the illusion. That’s why we package your baby’s food in reusable, recyclable glass jars — better for your child, and better for the world they’ll grow up in.
At Little Judah, we took our time to weigh every factor — from safety to sustainability to long-term impact.
While plastic may have its place in dry goods or snacks, it’s not the right choice for ready-to-eat baby food — especially when sterilisation and long-term storage are involved.
In a world filled with hidden chemicals, greenwashing, and microplastics, making conscious choices matters — especially when it comes to your baby.
By choosing glass, we’re taking a stand for:
As parents ourselves, we know how overwhelming these decisions can be. That’s why we’ve made it easy for you — by choosing the best option from the start.
Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Let’s raise a healthier, safer, and more conscious generation — one glass jar at a time.
