The ingredients in our pails, family by family

Surfactants, a softening agent, preservatives, fragrance and colorants: what each family does in PAPALOTE, SIESTA and CAZUELA, with the CAS numbers.

By Baja Supply 5 min read

Each Baja Supply ingredient page lists every ingredient by weight, with its CAS number and the job it does. The ingredients fall into a few families: surfactants, a softening agent, preservatives, fragrance, colorants and some helpers. This guide groups them. The ingredient page for your product remains the reference.

Why the list is public

California's Cleaning Product Right to Know Act (SB 258) asks the maker of a cleaning product sold in the state to post its ingredients online. The list goes in descending order by weight, although ingredients under 1 % may follow in any order. Each one carries its CAS number, the identifier assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service, and its function. When a CAS number does not exist, the list says not available; when the ingredient is confidential, it says withheld. The page also groups links to the designated chemical lists, names the fragrance allergens present at 100 ppm or more, and links the Safety Data Sheet.

Our ingredient pages follow that structure, product by product, and you can print each one or download it as JSON or CSV.

The families at a glance

Family Job, as our pages list it PAPALOTE™ laundry SIESTA™ softener CAZUELA™ dish soap
Surfactants Cleaning agent (surfactant) 4 none 4
Softening agent Softening agent none 1 none
Preservatives Preservative up to 4 up to 4 up to 4
Fragrance Fragrance ingredient 1 blend 1 blend 1 blend
Colorants Colorant 0 to 2 0 to 2 2
Helpers Solvent, thickener, hydrotrope, foam booster, emulsifier, water softener (sequestrant) 4 4 3

Counts are per variety, from our ingredient pages; the colorants vary by variety.

Surfactants: the cleaning agents

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes surfactants, short for surface active agents, as molecules with a water-loving head and an oil-loving tail. They lower the tension between two liquids that do not mix, such as oil and water, so that one disperses into the other. Detergents are one of the uses EPA lists.

PAPALOTE™ and CAZUELA™ share the same four:

  • Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (CAS 25155-30-0), formed from dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid and sodium hydroxide: 3 to 5 % in PAPALOTE™, 1 to 2 % in CAZUELA™.
  • Sodium laureth sulfate (CAS 68891-38-3): 3 to 5 % in both.
  • Cocamidopropyl betaine (CAS 61789-40-0) and cocamine oxide (CAS 61788-90-7): under 0.5 % each.

Sodium laureth sulfate is an ether sulfate and cocamidopropyl betaine is a betaine. EPA's guide shows ether sulfates among the negatively charged (anionic) head groups, and betaines among the amphoteric ones, which carry both charges.

The softening agent: SIESTA™

In SIESTA™, the ingredient our pages list as the softening agent is TEA-esterquat (CAS 157905-74-3), at 3 to 5 %. Two ingredients come in with its raw material, each under 1 %: isopropyl alcohol (CAS 67-63-0), a solvent, and a C11-14 isoalkyl alcohol ethoxylate (CAS 78330-21-9), an emulsifier. A polymer thickener, whose CAS number is not available, completes the base.

A softening agent is not a water softener. CAZUELA™ contains tetrasodium EDTA (CAS 64-02-8, under 1 %), which our page lists as a water softener (sequestrant).

Preservatives

All three formulas contain formaldehyde (CAS 50-00-0) at about 0.04 % as a preservative. It is on California's Proposition 65 list, which is why every label carries a CA WARNING.

Three more preservatives may be present, carried in with raw materials: sodium benzoate (CAS 532-32-1, under 0.1 %), methylchloroisothiazolinone (CAS 26172-55-4) and methylisothiazolinone (CAS 2682-20-4), each under 0.01 %. Our Safety Data Sheets note that isothiazolinones, like fragrance allergens, may cause an allergic skin reaction in sensitive people.

Fragrance

Each variety has one fragrance blend, shown as a single row with its CAS number withheld: 0.5 to 1.5 % in PAPALOTE™ and CAZUELA™, 1 to 1.5 % in SIESTA™. Each ingredient page still names the fragrance allergens from the EU list that reach 100 ppm (0.01 %) in the product, such as linalool (CAS 78-70-6) or geraniol (CAS 106-24-1). It also names, at any amount, fragrance ingredients that appear on a designated list, such as hexamethylindanopyran (HHCB, CAS 1222-05-5). Under SB 258, that same 100 ppm level is when our labels carry the statement "Contains fragrance allergen(s)".

Colorants

The color of the liquid comes from dyes under 0.5 %: Acid Blue 9 (CAS 3844-45-9), Tartrazine (CAS 1934-21-0) and Rhodamine B (CAS 81-88-9), plus a few producer's blends whose CAS numbers are withheld or not available. TRANQUILO™ and TRANQUILA™ have no dye added. Each ingredient page names the colorants in that variety.

The helpers

  • Water (CAS 7732-18-5), the solvent, in all three.
  • Sodium chloride (CAS 7647-14-5), a thickener, 1 to 5 % in PAPALOTE™ and CAZUELA™.
  • Sodium xylenesulfonate (CAS 1300-72-7), a hydrotrope that keeps the liquid clear and stable, in PAPALOTE™.
  • Cocamide DEA (CAS 68603-42-9), a foam booster, 0.1 to 0.5 % in PAPALOTE™. It is also on the Proposition 65 list.

Questions

Why is the fragrance's CAS number withheld?

The law lets a maker withhold a confidential ingredient's identity. The page still names the fragrance allergens at 100 ppm or more and every fragrance ingredient on a designated list.

Why are some preservatives marked may be present?

Those preservatives can be carried into the product with its raw materials, so our pages and Safety Data Sheets list them.

Where is the complete list for my product?

On its ingredient page, reached from baja.supply/ingredients, the address printed on every label. The designated lists page explains each list an ingredient appears on.

Sources