# Baking Soda - Bob's or Arm & Hammer...UPDATED w/info from Bob's - Post #5



## mystic~mama (Apr 27, 2004)

is there a difference?

The Bob's Red Mill bag says - ALUMINUM FREE and Not Processed with Chemicals, does that mean the Arm & Hammer may have those things?

I found nothing by googling on this subject and I am very very curious, thanks!


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## desertpenguin (Apr 15, 2005)

hmm i'm curious too. we always buy the store brand baking soda. i know baking _powder_ can have aluminum in it, so i make my own....but i didn't think baking soda had any additives or anything.


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## mamadelbosque (Feb 6, 2007)

I'd guess its just bobs' marketing ploy to get you to buy theres vs whoever else's... but IDK.


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## desertpenguin (Apr 15, 2005)

i found an article here the describes how baking soda is often made. so it looks like it might not be just a marketing ploy because baking soda is often manufactured with the use of chemicals. but wow the Bob's Red Mill baking soda looks to be expensive.....


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## RunnerDuck (Sep 12, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *desertpenguin* 
i found an article here the describes how baking soda is often made. so it looks like it might not be just a marketing ploy because baking soda is often manufactured with the use of chemicals. but wow the Bob's Red Mill baking soda looks to be expensive.....

Bob's everything is expensive. If you look at the price on their dried beans it's INSANE.


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## mystic~mama (Apr 27, 2004)

A lot of their stuff can be pricey, you can get decent prices on flour...

This is a reply I got from Bob's,,,,

Thank you for your email. Very few manufacturers use Aluminum in their baking soda today. This was previously not the case. Most baking soda's are made, they are not natural, as ours is. I do not have information about other company's products, but have attached information on ours.

ØAluminum Free- most baking soda now days does not have aluminum. **we used to get asked this question a lot back when other co. had aluminum in theirs. So we added it to our labeling ** we may consider taking it off.
ØSodium bicarbonate (Nahcolite- NaHCO3) is naturally occurring in northwestern Colorado.
ØOther companies chemically produce baking soda by creating a chemical reaction between soda ash and carbon dioxide.
ØA closed loop process leaves the community and its surroundings virtually untouched. In the process, water is used to extract the sodium bicarbonate and no chemicals are used. Nothing else is added to it so it is naturally free of gluten and aluminum.
Not like arm & hammer baking soda- our products are cruelty free.

Thank you for your interest,


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## steffanie3 (Mar 17, 2002)

I wondered about this and emailed Arm and Hammer a while ago and got no response, so next time I will be buying the stuff labeled aluminum free from Azure. Just kinda ticks me off they didn't respond.


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## debesul (Apr 5, 2012)

this link contains an excerpt from an email from Dwight about their Arm and Hammer bkg soda.

http://www.gapalicious.com/2011/05/09/does-arm-and-hammer-baking-soda-contain-aluminum/


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## JEDM (Apr 22, 2013)

Sorry, to break the news to all the Bob's Red Mill or Arm & Hammer fans. For all the hype about natural or chemically made Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) it real makes no difference. None are 100% PURE. They all have trace elements of one type or another.

Attached you will find the Tech Info provided by the manufacturer, "Natural Soda" of the Sodium Bicarbonate, used and packaged by Bob's Red Mill. As you can see the the baking soda can contain 2-ppm Arsenic, 5-ppm Heavy metals (that would be lead, Chromium, etc.), 150-ppm Chloride, 150-ppm Sulfur compound. That would translate a possible cummulative 0.0307% impurities total or 96.93% Sodium Bicarbonate.

Copy and paste link attached to verify.

http://www.naturalsoda.com/Portals/0/Documents/FoodBaking/Grades/USP1_Powder.pdf

So, is a trace amount of aluminum better or worse then trace amounts of arsenic and heavy metals.

Use facts not emotions, I remember the days that medical experts were saying that olive oil was bad for you.

Moderation of all is key.


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## lizardsnoop (Jul 19, 2015)

mystic~mama said:


> is there a difference?
> 
> The Bob's Red Mill bag says - ALUMINUM FREE and Not Processed with Chemicals, does that mean the Arm & Hammer may have those things?
> 
> I found nothing by googling on this subject and I am very very curious, thanks!


Bob's Red Mill brand is natural baking soda. It is mined in Colorado directly from the ground in its natural sodium bicarbonate state. It is extracted by an all-natural water process that uses no chemicals.

Arm & Hammer is chemically created. They use a chemical process that turns trona ore into soda ash and then use carbon dioxide to react with the soda ash to produce baking soda.

to me it's a no brainer which is the better product. baking soda (aluminium free) gets mixed up with baking powder (some are)


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## mysterylectricity (Mar 3, 2016)

lizardsnoop said:


> to me it's a no brainer which is the better product. baking soda (aluminium free) gets mixed up with baking powder (some are)


No brainer? You mean you haven't thought about it much? If you did, you might come to a different conclusion.

The cascade effects of global warming were initiated by extracting "natural" chemicals from the ground that should have been left alone. I haven't looked into the energy and carbon balance of extraction vs. synthesis, nor on the relative local impact of "fracking" for natural bicarb vs. mining for Trona, but suggest that most baking soda ultimately breaks down and releases CO2. It's my understanding that CO2 is one of the raw materials used in synthesizing baking soda. Although synthesized baking soda will also break down and release C02, at first glance it would appear to be carbon neutral.

I'm not suggesting that any of it matters, just that as long as we're on the subject we should be careful to question assumptions, and be wary of hype. It's just a good habit to get into.

It's quite likely that much of the "natural" bicarb on earth was formed using the same simple processes used to make bicarb from Trona. To make a distinction between "natural" chemicals and chemical processes and demonize "ooooohhhh: CHEMICALS" synthesized under controlled conditions is often disingenuous fear mongering.

Good for Arm and Hammer in never (as far as I know) dumbing down to Bob's level in mimicking the aluminum free claim on their packaging. And good for Bob's for (as far as I can tell) phasing out these claims in their latest packaging. Good on 'em for saying no ADDED aluminum on some variations, an admission that some aluminum is naturally present in baking soda as it is in nearly everything. Shame on Bob's for jumping on the gluten free bandwagon. That's just mind bogglingly silly. I'm sure we'll be seeing "no GMO" claims soon. Consumers have plenty of real concerns about food quality and benefits, don't need a bunch of trumped up nonsense. Anxiety and stress are well known killers.

As far as purity is concerned, (which I think is the real point here) one could assert that it is far better to start with pure ingredients and synth up to a pure product. Nature is not particularly motivated to create pure mineral deposits, especially of an amorphous kind. It's generally much harder to remove contaminants than to ensure they never get into the process in the first place.

But ultimately the entire discussion isn't worth the hot air upon which it is built.

All that matters is "lot analysis" of the delivered product. We need "average" lot analysis info and "worst case" examples would be helpful as well.

I can guarantee you that both companies in question perform regular lot analysis as a form of process, quality, reputation and liability control.

Guaranteed, audited, lot specific analysis certificates (usually on the container label) are provided as standard when buying chemicals for research and industry.

It would seem reasonable to ask for this information and trivial for food companies to provide it. But good luck with that. Access to that information certainly would touch off a firestorm of debate as to which contaminants in which measure was worse than the other. One or both Titans might fall or at least suffer mortal wounds. The unspoken agreement between the companies is doubtless that "mum's the word" is best for all concerned. To do otherwise would set off an "arms race" toward ultrapure product that would increase costs astronomically and be of little or no real benefit to consumers.

In all likelihood the best you'll get from either company is that their products "comply with purity standards set forth by the FDA" or like that.

I double dare you to try, though.


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