Parenting

Parents share fears over bacteria in children’s drink bottles

Sistema respond to concerns of parents over filth accumulating in their popular children's drink bottle lids.

Sistema respond to concerns of parents over filth accumulating in their popular children’s drink bottle lids.

When Craig Beresford’s seven-year-old daughter became sick for weeks on end with a stomach upset and bowl issues he set out to investigate what she’d been in contact with.

His home was clean, things were wiped and rinsed in what he admits was an OCD-like fashion but it turns out that despite the meticulous hygiene his daughter’s water bottle was to blame because Craig figured, “It’s the only constant item she has had contact with the whole time.”

In a lengthy Facebook post Craig, of Stalybrige in the UK, warned parents of the nasties that he found inside his child’s Sistema Twist ‘N’ Sip reusable drinks bottle when he took a closer inspection.

“We haven’t been able to work out why she has had an upset stomach, and occasional runs for what seems around four weeks, until I figured it might be the Sistema bottle,” wrote Craig.

“Today, I took a sharp knife and broke the cap apart. It isn’t designed to be taken apart and requires a bit of force to disassemble. The internal components have been hoarding bacteria. We were horrified and heartbroken that out little girl had been using this bottle in this state.”

Craig said he thought he was doing all he could to keep the bottle clean saying that the “cap has been rinsed in boiling water and sterilised every day” but became concerned that wasn’t enough when a friend told a story of a thermo flask that had been making him ill.

In his Facebook post which has been shared over 48,000 times the concerned dad warns: “It’s probably wise that you inspect any of these type of bottles with a mechanised cap. Not just Sistema brands, but anything that pops-up or twists.”

You can read Craig’s whole post below.

But Craig is adamant he didn’t intend for his post to cause a witch-hunt or a boycott of the manufacturer just “a general warning to ‘INSPECT’ your bottle caps” but the company has issues a response to the viral claims.

On its website Sistema wrote:

“A number of our customers have recently advised us that they are having difficulty cleaning our Twist ‘n’ Sip drink bottle caps.

“We take this feedback very seriously and have posted on the home page of our website an announcement regarding this issue.

“We manufacture our caps to meet international child safety standards and it is for this reason they can be difficult to disassemble.

“Sistema is committed to producing products that fulfil all our customer’s needs and our team is currently working on a number of design improvements to ensure our caps meet this criteria. Our Customer Service teams are happy to help anyone who has any further enquiries.”

Craig shared the statement on his Facebook as well as links to an instructional video made by Sistema to show customers how to clean its products lids properly.

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