Friday, May 30, 2008

U.S. food company says BPA-free cans possible

May. 29 2008
CTV.ca News Staff

Bisphenol A is found in cans that contain many popular foods, including tomato paste and soup, but one company has been using BPA-free cans for almost a decade.

Eden Foods, a natural and organic food company based in Michigan, sells most of its canned food, except the highly acidic tomato products, in BPA-free cans. For now, the company is keeping its tomato products in cans with BPA because their shelf life would be drastically reduced without the chemical. The company's juices are sold in glass bottles. "We badgered our canned suppliers to come up with an alternative and one of them said they would accommodate us with a bisphenol A-free lining," said Eden Foods President Michael Potter. "They ended up with all our business. I did it because I didn't want to be in the loop of providing this contaminant, this toxin, to my children." Potter said most canned-good manufacturers should have no trouble following his company's lead, given that a 15-ounce BPA-free can costs only 2.2 cents more.

BPA is found in everyday items, including stereo equipment, some car parts, hard plastic food containers and beverage containers and the linings of food cans. During the manufacturing process, food is put into cans and then heated at high temperatures to kill bacteria. Scientists say that this is when BPA can leach out of the lining and into food.

A joint study conducted by CTV News and The Globe and Mail showed that trace amounts of BPA can be found in cans that contain popular foods such as soup and vegetables.

While baby bottles leach about 6 parts per billion of BPA, the exclusive tests of food cans showed:

* A can of children's ravioli leached 6 parts per billion.
* A can of peas and carrots leached 7 parts per billion.
* A can of tomato juice leached 14 parts per billion.

READ FULL STORY HERE

New tests find BPA in kids' food containers

Wed. May. 28 2008
CTV.ca News Staff


A controversial chemical that Health Canada is moving to ban in baby bottles has turned up in tests conducted on cans for foods commonly served to Canadian children.

Tests conducted on the food cans for CTV News and The Globe and Mail shows similar or higher levels of bisphenol A than in baby bottles.

While baby bottles leach about 6 parts per billion of bisphenol A (BPA), the exclusive tests of food cans show:

* A can of children's ravioli leached 6 parts per billion.
* A can of peas and carrots leached 7 parts per billion.
* A can of tomato juice leached 14 parts per billion.

In this study, the first of its kind in Canada, the method of testing used most closely mimics the canning process. Fourteen cans of popular Canadian foods were sent to XenoAnalytical LLC, a laboratory in Columbia, Mo . The cans were emptied of food and rinsed five times before being filled with water and heated for 24 hours at 95 C.

(The food itself from each can could not be accurately tested because other chemicals in the food could interfere with measuring the BPA.)

Studies have shown when cans are heated in the manufacturing process, BPA leaches out of the linings. Foods are first sealed in cans and heated to kill bacteria in the food. Cans are heated to temperatures between 116 C and 121 C, and the length of time varies according to the type of food.

"The tests we did in the cans are fairly conservative," said Julia Taylor, the lab technician that conducted the tests.

"We used water, which is less likely to pull out BPA in a can."

Because these findings show that BPA leached out of the cans and into water, it can be assumed that the chemical is leaching into the food itself when the cans are heated during the pasteurization process, Taylor said.

Environmental Defence, an advocacy group that has long called for a ban on BPA, conducted its own study into BPA levels in plastic baby bottles. It found that many of the bottles, manufactured by popular name brand companies, leached from five to eight parts of BPA per billion when heated.

Rick Smith, the executive director of Environmental Defence, finds these new results troubling.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE