I get asked this question quite frequently, as of lately, particularly in light of recent studies linking bisphenol-A (BPA)—the plastic used to line beverage containers and tin food cans—to cancer. The latest research from the Université de Sherbrooke in Québec, Canada and published in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology reports that BPA can adversely affect development of the fetus in pregnant women.

Until fairly recently, glass carboys were really the only practical containers for fermenting and storing wine available to home winemakers. However, glass carboys are heavy, slippery when wet, and fragile—much wine has been spilled and many people have been injured as the result of accidental breakage.

Light-weight, colorless, clear, durable PET fermentation carboys were introduced at the turn of the century and are replacing glass carboys, which are no longer manufactured in North America. PET plastics (also known as PETE plastics) are copolymers of polymerized polyethylene tere-phthalate and have a recycle number1. PET belongs to the polyester family of plastics and should not be confused with toxic ortho-phthalate plasticizers such as di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, DEHP, and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), which are added to other types of plastics to make them flexible. It is also important to underscore that bisphenol-A (BPA), a notorious endocrine disruptor used to make polycarbonate plastics that have a recycle number of 7, has absolutely nothing to do with the manufacture of PET. Furthermore, rumors that PET containers leach toxins if they are re-used have been scientifically disproved. PET is FDA-approved and considered safe and non-toxic for food and beverage applications.

In sharp contrast to other types of plastic carboys, PET fermentation carboys do not scalp (release, pick up, or transfer) flavors into wines; are specially manufactured to have negligibly low oxygen permeability; are hydrophobic, making them easier to wash than glass; and are not damaged or stained by the washing and sanitizing agents commonly used in winemaking.

So there you go: If you want to switch to PET carboys in your winemaking, you need not worry about bisphenol-A contamination.