Canned food and BPA?

JmeJoLee83 · February 2014

I was heating up a can of Amy's soup at work the other day and this opinionated co-worker said "be careful..Canned food contains dangerous levels of BPA." I started to do some research and can't believe I have never heard about this before. Must have been living under a rock! It's not like I eat tons of canned foods, but it's got me thinking differently about it now. Any insight from you knowledgeable ladies?

bebemac · February 2014

@joules235 You are such a wealth of knowledge on so many topics. I love having you here! :x

JmeJoLee83 · February 2014

bebemac said:
@joules235 You are such a wealth of knowledge on so many topics. I love having you here! :x

Agreed! I almost tagged Joules in the subject line lol!!

JmeJoLee83 · February 2014

joules235 said:
Many can liners contain BPA and since canned foods are cooked in the cans to sterilize them and insure shelf stability there is a large amount of BPA that leaches into the food.

BPA is a hormone disruptor and has been banned in all baby bottles and many other baby items for this reason. Some canned foods come in cans that have a BPA free lining so look for those. Personally I avoid plastic as much as possible and I never heat up food in plastic containers or drink water out of plastic bottles especially if it has been in a warm car or a similar situation.

DD used life factory bottles and still uses them as sippy cups. I use a glass water bottle as well. I don't feel the need to mess around with it and erring on the side of caution here is easy and there are no risks to avoiding BPA.

It is scary to think about the chemicals that are in our food, toiletries and cleaning products. I hate that triclosan, a common antibacterial chemical, has been found in testable amounts in breastmilk. The FDA is currently re reviewing that and it has been banned in most other developed countries for years. There are actually 1700 banned cosmetic chemicals in the EU and only 10 or so in the US...their cancer rates are also way lower than ours.

@joules235 do the cans say BPA free?

whoberry · February 2014

JmeJoLee83 said:
I was heating up a can of Amy's soup at work the other day and this opinionated co-worker said "be careful..Canned food contains dangerous levels of BPA." I started to do some research and can't believe I have never heard about this before. Must have been living under a rock! It's not like I eat tons of canned foods, but it's got me thinking differently about it now. Any insight from you knowledgeable ladies?

I felt this way too when I first found out about it last year. Did you read that it is also on paper receipts? I think Trader Joe's is the only grocery store by me that says it has bpa free receipts. They also have a lot of bpa free canned food. In the organic section of our regular grocery store I have found bpa free canned tomatoes and pumpkin. It does say it on the can. I read that tomatoes are the worst of all canned foods because of their acidity. I completely avoid them and try to minimize my exposure to all other canned foods. But you never know what you are getting at a restaurant.
Eta typo fix

beachbride5 · February 2014

skip the cans when possible or look for the bpa free one. i have read that levels are worse with acidic contents like tomatoes as the acids will leach more can chemicals than others.

i find it so frustrating that our country allows these chemicals to be used while other countries prohibit them.

beachbride5 · February 2014

as an aside-- apparently some companies are simply replacing bpa with bps which has the same hormone interrupting properties, but allows them to claim "bpa free". so when possible, best to avoid all plastics and cans. especially when the item is being used at changing temperatures, like for microwaving.

babygabe614 · February 2014

This list is about a year old, but could be a good place to start when looking at what's in your cabinet: https://www.inspirationgreen.com/bpa-lined-cans.html

kellyjayne · February 2014

Instead of storing any leftovers in plastic containers, we use glass mason jars. A case isn't that expensive, and you can be confident that no chemicals are seeping into your food. We buy the diced or stewed tomatoes in a glass jar from Whole Foods. They also sell beans and soups in cardboard containers, so we try to buy those items or make them in the crockpot at home.

owlcup · February 2014

How did not know this? I do try to use mostly fresh or frozen but my top can purchases are tomatoes and beans.

*Off to rethink dinner*

I feel so out of the loop.

kjohnson1002 · February 2014

This is a great thread. I do try to be good about my can usage..Ive switched to making my own beans in the oven. I do use tomatoes from the can, so I will have to look for the BPA ones. I use glass containers for my lunch so I can reheat in them, but I still have plastic containers for storage..is that no good? Should I get all glass to store in?

CynthiaO85 · February 2014

@joules235 How did you heat up the formula in the Life Factory bottles? Did you put the whole bottle in the microwave or in a bottle warmer? I really like the idea of using glass bottles.

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