LunchBots safety review
Founded 2008 · Chicago, Illinois · Part of O2C Brands (legal entity: Middleton O2COOL LLC)
Our verdict
AcceptableLunchBots makes plain 18/8 stainless-steel lunch containers, and the reason it needs few promises is the material: its own page for the Duo we list describes a "100% stainless steel interior, including the lid," and says "No plastic touches your food." Those are the company's statements. There is no third-party product certification to look up, which is why the grade is acceptable rather than recommended, and the brand says nothing about lead in either direction — on bare stainless there is no coating to ask about, but it is the brand's silence, not a test result. We found no recall in CPSC's database or openFDA, no California Proposition 65 notice and no federal court docket naming LunchBots as of 2026-10-12. The brand has not been independent since February 2021: it belongs to O2C Brands of Chicago, reported at the time as private-equity owned.
- Best for
- A parent who wants food touching nothing but stainless steel, in a box that will outlast the school years.
- Skip if
- You need a leakproof container for yogurt or soup — the brand's own pages for the Duo and the Trio both say "This product is not leak proof. We recommend packing dry foods only."
Reviewed by Dan Golden · October 2026
Company facts
- What they make
- food storage, lunch gear, stainless steel
- Where it's made
- LunchBots' own story page says the brand "was started by a mom with two young boys in 2008." Its product pages describe the containers as 18/8 food-grade stainless steel with a "100% stainless steel interior, including the lid." The brand does not say where they are made. Since February 2021 it has belonged to O2COOL of Chicago, which renamed itself O2C Brands in 2022; the brand's own privacy policy and its Amazon seller disclosure both give the legal entity as Middleton O2COOL LLC, 300 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2300, Chicago, and trade press reported O2COOL in 2021 as owned by the private equity firm Middleton Partners. Sibling brands are O2COOL, Treva, U-Konserve, EcoVessel and Green Sprouts.
The company behind O2C Brands (legal entity Middleton O2COOL LLC)
- Headquarters
- Chicago, IL
- Ownership
- PE-backed
Worth re-checking annually — standards are the asset.
Safety breakdown
We found no recall under LunchBots, O2COOL, O2 Cool or O2C in CPSC's recall database, searched by recall title, manufacturer and product name, or in openFDA enforcement data as of 2026-10-12, and no California Proposition 65 notice naming LunchBots. Two records under the parent's name concern sibling brands and not LunchBots: CPSC recall 23-711 of 2022-11-23, in which Green Sprouts Inc. of Asheville, North Carolina, recalled about 10,500 stainless-steel toddler bottles and cups because the base "can break off, exposing a solder dot that contains lead" — nine months before O2C Brands announced it was buying that brand — and Proposition 65 notice AG 2025-02252 of 2025-07-08, which names O2Cool, LLC and a retailer over PFOS in "dry burp pads" and which, under a warning-label statute, alleges a missing warning rather than an unsafe product. No third-party product certification was found for LunchBots. O2C Brands is listed as a business member in 1% for the Planet's own directory — a giving commitment, not a safety certification, and not counted toward the grade. A search of federal dockets as of 2026-10-12 found none naming LunchBots or Middleton O2COOL LLC; the dockets naming the parent as O2COOL, LLC include patent suits, two customs cases in the Court of International Trade, bankruptcy matters and a 2025 suit it filed against a retailer, and none carries a product-liability or consumer-protection code.
LunchBots on SafeMama
4 products reviewed · 3 lists · 0 SafeMama Picks
- 4
- products reviewed
- 0
- SafeMama Picks
- 0
- we'd skip
- 3
- best-of lists
We found no recall under LunchBots, O2COOL, O2 Cool or O2C in CPSC's recall database, searched by recall title, manufacturer and product name, or in openFDA enforcement data as of 2026-10-12, and no California Proposition 65 notice naming LunchBots. Two records under the parent's name concern sibling brands and not LunchBots: CPSC recall 23-711 of 2022-11-23, in which Green Sprouts Inc. of Asheville, North Carolina, recalled about 10,500 stainless-steel toddler bottles and cups because the base "can break off, exposing a solder dot that contains lead" — nine months before O2C Brands announced it was buying that brand — and Proposition 65 notice AG 2025-02252 of 2025-07-08, which names O2Cool, LLC and a retailer over PFOS in "dry burp pads" and which, under a warning-label statute, alleges a missing warning rather than an unsafe product. No third-party product certification was found for LunchBots. O2C Brands is listed as a business member in 1% for the Planet's own directory — a giving commitment, not a safety certification, and not counted toward the grade. A search of federal dockets as of 2026-10-12 found none naming LunchBots or Middleton O2COOL LLC; the dockets naming the parent as O2COOL, LLC include patent suits, two customs cases in the Court of International Trade, bankruptcy matters and a 2025 suit it filed against a retailer, and none carries a product-liability or consumer-protection code.
A brand tier is a summary, never a verdict — always read the product page. How tiers are calculated
Where this brand appears
- CitedThe summer camp kitLunchBots Medium Duo Stainless Steel Kids Bento Box 2-Section 20oz · updated Oct 2026
- CitedFood storage and dishwareLunchBots Medium Duo Stainless Steel Kids Bento Box 2-Section 20oz · updated Nov 2026
- ListedSafer lunch gear cheat sheetLunchBots Medium Duo Stainless Steel Kids Bento Box 2-Section 20oz · updated Oct 2026
LunchBots products we track
Manufacturer statement checked · source
LunchBots Medium Trio Stainless Steel Kids Bento Box 3-Section 20oz
LunchBots Medium Trio Stainless Steel Kids Bento Box 3-Section Blue 32oz
Manufacturer statement checked · source
LunchBots Small Stainless Steel Kids Bento Box 2-Section 16oz
Recall history
No recalls found. We checked CPSC and FDA recall databases as of October 14, 2026 and found no recalls for this brand. Recall databases update continuously — if you own a recalled product, the official notice is always the source to follow.