Snug Organics Blog
Giving Up Canned Food
Tuesday July 13, 2010
A document released by The President’s Cancer Panel on May 6, 2010 listed a variety of carcinogenic compounds that many people routinely encounter. Included was bisphenol A in canned foods. In its letter, the panel singled out bisphenol A, a chemical used in can linings that is unregulated in the United States. There is a proven link between canned food and cancer. There have been laboratory links to recent trends in human diseases — a chilling list including breast and prostate cancers, increases in urogenital abnormalities in male babies, a decline in semen quality in men, early onset of puberty in girls, metabolic disorders including Type 2 diabetes and obesity, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Food cans are lined with an epoxy resin that contains bisphenol-A. Most experts believe this is our main source of exposure to BPA. Eden Foods is currently the only company with BPA-free canned foods (other than the canned tomatoes, which they haven’t found an adequate substitute for given the acidity of the tomatoes).
Giving up canned food has not been difficult. Canned food has never really appealed to me, I just cooked with it out of convenience. If I do run out time and decide to buy a can of beans, I always buy Eden. In 1997, Mike Potter, founder and president of Eden Foods, learned that new research was raising questions about the safety of bisphenol A and that one of BPA’s many applications was in the linings of cans. After his canning manufacturers refused to disclose the chemicals they were using in the cans, Potter asked what they used in the days before BPA. The answer was an enamel made from vegetable resins. He asked if he could have his cans made with this resin and the answer was yes. Eden Foods pays 14% more for their cans.
Tomatoes are the biggest culprit when it comes to cans containing BPA because they are highly acidic and need a liner. Once I stopped buying canned tomatoes and just bought and grew fresh ones, I realized I never really liked the taste of ca
nned tomatoes anyway. Beans are another canned food I was buying a lot. When I bought bagged dried beans, learning how to cook them was easier than I thought. Lastly, broth was another frequent purchase. Many broths, stocks, and soups come in Tetra Packs.
Stick with fresh fruits and vegetables, dried beans, and boxed or jarred soups and stocks. There’s not much in a can that tastes very good anyway. By the way, if you’re planning on canning your own food from your garden this year, be aware that mason jar lids contain BPA. Tattler Canning Lids are a great alternative and they’re reusable.
Read more about the effects of endocrine disruptors:
Endocrine Disruptors Really Do Suck
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