Can I make or sell laundry pods?

You can, but a home maker should not, without the packaging, warning and testing work the industry standard expects. Liquid laundry packets are a concentrated dose of detergent in a dissolving film, and they are a well-documented child poisoning hazard: U.S. poison centers took 36,279 calls about them in three recent years, 87 percent involving children under 6, and nine adults died. The packet standard, ASTM F3159, is voluntary according to CPSC, yet it covers packaging, warning labels, a bitter agent in the film and burst strength. Researchers who study these exposures want packaging requirements stricter than that. This page gives the data, what the standard covers, and what selling packets would take.

The exposure numbers

Two patterns stand out. Exposures in young children fell from 2015 to 2017, the years after manufacturers changed packaging and the standard was published, but they did not stop. And the deaths in the 2024 study were older adults, which is why the researchers also name adults with dementia among the people who should not have packets in reach [1].

For all cleaning products, poison centers reported 87,031 cleaning substances in exposures of children 5 and under in 2024, the largest category for that age group [4]. Cleaning around children and pets is the home for those figures.

Why packets are different from a jug of detergent

UGA Extension's laundry room safety publication explains that packets are concentrated and premeasured, and that the concentrated detergent can cause severe illness within minutes, where traditional detergents usually cause only mild stomach upset [2]. The symptoms it lists include vomiting, wheezing or trouble breathing, excessive drooling, severe drowsiness, burns or irritation to the mouth, throat, eyes or lungs, and eye injuries including corneal abrasions [2].

What the voluntary standard covers

CPSC lists ASTM F3159-15, Standard Safety Specification for Liquid Laundry Packets, under "Voluntary Standard(s)," and states its purpose as working "with ASTM on revising the voluntary standard to strengthen its safety provisions" [5]. CPSC's page lists no related rulemaking [5].

From the sources read, the standard covers:

• Packaging. The CHOP summary says it addresses packaging, and child-resistant lids on tubs arrived in 2017 [3].
• Warning labels [3].
• A bitter agent added to the packet film [3].
• A minimum burst strength for the packet [3].

Nationwide Children's adds that the standard was updated in March 2022 without substantial change in scope, and that it lets manufacturers meet child-resistant container requirements "in six different ways" instead of meeting the Poison Prevention Packaging Act [1]. The researchers' view: "Requiring that all liquid laundry detergent packet packaging be PPPA-compliant would be an important next step" [1]. They also want packets individually wrapped in child-resistant packaging and reformulated to be less toxic [1].

The full text of ASTM F3159 is sold by ASTM and was not read for this page, so its test methods and pass levels are not given here. Child-resistant closures covers the Poison Prevention Packaging Act and its regulation, 16 CFR 1700, for bottled cleaners.

What selling packets would take

This list is drawn from what the standard covers and what the researchers recommend. Treat it as a scope of work; meeting the standard means buying and reading ASTM F3159 itself:

1. A formula you can classify. Work out whether your concentrate is a hazardous substance under the FHSA (is your cleaner a hazardous substance?), which decides the warnings in what a cleaning product label must say.
2. A film you can buy to specification and test. Burst strength is part of the standard [3], which means testing every film and fill combination you sell.
3. A bitter agent in the film, as the standard expects [3].
4. Outer packaging a young child cannot open, to the standard at minimum, with the researchers urging full PPPA compliance [1].
5. Warning labels on the container [3].
6. Records and insurance that match the risk; insurance covers product liability.

Each step needs equipment, suppliers and testing that a kitchen-scale business does not have. A homemade "pod" made by wrapping detergent in film without this work carries the hazard of the commercial product with none of its safeguards. If you want a pre-measured laundry product to sell, look at the solid formats on bars, powders, tablets and sheets and check how each is regulated first.

If you use store-bought packets at home

UGA Extension's practices [2]:

• Store packets up and away, out of the reach and sight of children and pets, in the original child-resistant container with its label, and reseal it after each use.
• Handle packets with dry hands. Never cut, tear or puncture them. Throw away packets that are stuck together or damaged.
• Put the packet in the drum before the clothes, and never leave packets on counters, the washer or in laundry baskets.
• Never let children handle or play with packets, even with an adult watching.

The researchers go further: caregivers of children younger than 6, and households with an adult who has dementia, Alzheimer's disease or a developmental disability, should use traditional detergent instead [1].

If someone bites into a packet

Call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 right away. If detergent gets in the eyes, UGA Extension says to flush with clean water for at least 15 minutes while getting medical advice, and to call 911 for trouble breathing, unconsciousness or a seizure [2]. The full first aid steps for eyes, skin and swallowing are on cleaner in the eyes, on skin or swallowed.

References

1. Nationwide Children's Hospital, *New Study Finds Liquid Laundry Detergent Packet Exposure Burden among Young Children Remains; Increase in Exposures among Older Children, Teens, and Adults*, news release, January 22, 2024, on the study in *Clinical Toxicology*, doi:10.1080/15563650.2023.2287977. https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/newsroom/news-releases/2024/01/gaw_laundrydetergentpackets_clinicaltoxicology
2. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (Keishon Thomas, Nancy Bock, Diane W. Bales, Mitzi Parker and Ashlee Tziganuk), *Laundry Room Safety*, C 1109, published March 17, 2017, revised July 16, 2026. https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/C1109/protect-children-in-the-laundry-room/
3. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Center for Injury Research and Prevention (Patty Huang), *The Effects of Safety Interventions on Exposure to Laundry Detergent Packets Among Children*, July 25, 2019. https://injury.research.chop.edu/blog/posts/effects-safety-interventions-exposure-laundry-detergent-packets-among-children
4. Poison Control (National Capital Poison Center), *Poison Statistics: National Data 2024*, from Beuhler M., Feldman R., Gummin D., et al., 2024 Annual Report of the National Poison Data System, Clin Toxicol (Phila) 2025;63:1029-1280. https://www.poison.org/poison-statistics
5. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, *Liquid Laundry Packets* (voluntary standards activity, ASTM F3159-15), undated, read October 2026. https://www.cpsc.gov/Regulations-Laws--Standards/Voluntary-Standards/Liquid-Laundry-Packets