Laundry and home care giant Henkel has recently doubled down on its commitment to biodegradable packaging and consumer safety. The company has a large variety of patents, including in the biodegradable packaging space, that relate to products such as laundry detergent pods. While the company already had an issued patent on the bitter coating of these pods, the USPTO recently published a patent application regarding a much more bitter coating that still would not come off on someone’s hands. One has to wonder if this is an extended response to the 2018 “Tide Pod Challenge.” This patent is significant for Henkel, as it has three brands using degradable pods – Persil (laundry), All (laundry), and Bref (toilet cleaning).