Toxic Chemical BPA Leaching into Canned Foods and Food in #7 Plastics - Page 3

[Synchro246]

I found this link. Not useful in and of itself, but the words it gives will give you one more thing to Goodsearch.

http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/ff17-equ.htm

Metal Cans

The metal cans used by the canning industry for wet-pack canning are designed to last only a few years. Most losses of canned foods occur due to the breakdown of the can rather than extensive deterioration of the food under normal storage conditions.

The major disadvantages of metal cans for putting up your own food are that the cans are hard to come by, they take specialized equipment to use (but so do glass jars) and they can only be used once to seal in food. Not being reusable is the flaw that has largely made them unpopular for home canning use. Since they're not interested in reusing the containers, metal cans make great sense for the commercial canning industry. The cans are both cheaper (for them) and lighter than glass jars and this adds to the economy of scale that makes canned foods as cheap as they are in the grocery store.

For home canners, glass jars are better because even the smallest of towns will usually have at least one store that carries pressure and boiling water canners along with jars, rings and lids. With tin cans, however, a can sealer is necessary and that usually has to be ordered from its manufacturer.

Tin cans are not really made of tin. They're actually steel cans with a tin coating on the inside and outside. Some kinds of strongly colored acidic foods will fade in color from long exposure to tin so a type of enamel liner called "R-enamel" is used to forestall this. Certain other kinds of food that are high in sulfur or that are close to neutral in pH will also discolor from prolonged contact with tin. For those foods, cans with "C-enamel" are used.

[Synchro246]

and another site

http://www.fao.org/docrep/V5030E/V5030E0h.htm

7.6 "Tin can"/tinplate

The "tin can" is a container made of tinplate.

Tinplate, a rigid and impervious material, consists of a thin sheet of low carbon steel coated on both sides with a very thin layer of tin. It can be produced by dipping sheets of mild steel in molten tin (hot-dipped tinplate) or by the electro-deposition of tin on the steel sheet (electrolytic tinplate). With the latter process it is possible to produce tinplate with a heavier coating of tin on one surface than the other (differentially coated).

Tin is not completely resistant to corrosion but its rate of reaction with many food materials is considerably slower than that of steel. The effectiveness of a tin coating depends on:

its thickness which may vary from about 0.5 to 2.0 µm (20 to 80 x 10(-6) in.);
the uniformity of this thickness;
the method of applying the tin which today primarily involves electrolytic plating;
the composition of the underlying steel base plate;
the type of food, and
other factors.
Some canned vegetables including tomato products actually owe their characteristics flavours to a small amount of dissolved tin, without which these products would have an unfamiliar taste. On the other hand, where tin reacts unfavourably with a particular food the tin itself may be lacquer coated.

The classes of foods requiring different steels are seen in Table 7.2.

The thickness of tinplate sheets may vary from 0.14 mm to 0.49 mm and is determined by weighing a sheet of known area and calculating the average thickness.

Tinplate sheets may be lacquered after fabrication to provide an internal or external coating to protect the metal surface from corrosion by the atmosphere or through reaction with the can contents. They may also be printed by lithography to provide suitable instructions or information on containers fabricated from tinplate sheets (otherwise paper labels can be attached to the outer tinplate surface).

Under normal conditions the presence of the tin coating provides a considerable degree of electrochemical protection against corrosion, despite the fact that in both types of tinplate the tin coating is discontinuous and minute areas of steel base plate are exposed. With prolonged exposure to humid conditions, however, corrosion may become a serious problem.

Common organic coatings of FDA approved materials and their uses are indicated in Table 7.3.

The coatings not only protect the metal from corrosion by food constituents but also protect the foods from metal contamination, which can produce a host colour and flavour reactions depending upon the specific food. Particularly common are dark coloured sulphides of iron and tin produced in low acid foods that liberate sulphur compounds when heat processed, and bleaching of red plant pigments in contact with unprotected steel, tin, and aluminium.

TABLE 7.3 General types of can coatings

Coating Typical uses-- Type
Fruit enamel Dark coloured berries, cherries and other fruits requiring protection from metallic salts-- Oleoresinous

C-enamel Corn, peas and other sulphur-bearing products-- Oleoresinous w. suspended zinc oxide

Citrus enamel Citrus products and concentrates-- Modified oleoresinous

Beverage can enamel Vegetable juices; red fruit juices; highly corrosive fruits; non-carbonated beverages-- Two-coated w. resinous base coat and vinyl top coat

[anthasam]

nak

great info, thanks!

[Attached Mama]

Originally Posted by wallacesmum

BTW - I am pretty sure melamine is not heat safe at all, and off-gasses like mad.

sorta off subject, but there has been a huge dog food poisoning incident with lots of dogs dying - latest is that it is linked not to rat poison as originally suspected, but to melamine in the wheat. Apparently China uses melamine as a fertilizer in forested areas or something. Anyway, it's causing dogs to die. Been all over the news.

[loree]

I was told on a canning forum that the white coating that you see on the lids of the 2 piece canning jar lids are "plasticized zinc oxide paint" FYI, the plastic lids you can buy to put on canning jars after opening & storage are polypropylene (I asked Ball).

[artemis33]

Oh mamas I am feeling just sick about this today.

I contacted Wolfgang Puck about their canned soups. There is this one kind (Org. or non roasted chicken with wild rice) that I just love and I buy it ALL the time I keep it in my pantry for a quick lunch and since DD was born I have eaten it SO often. I even give her the carrots out of it

Well, you guessed it - they use BPA. Both in their organic and non organic soups. :

Here is their response to me:

Thank you for your e-mail notifying us of your concerns relating to Wolfgang
Puck’s Soup. We truly appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us. It is
because of consumers like you, who bring these sorts of issues to our attention,
that we are better able to serve you.

Yes, both the organic and non-organic cans start with a Bisphenol A coating.

Once again we thank you for taking the time to contact us.

I feel so awful about this. This soup and the TJ's stuff (thank goodness those are OK) are the only canned things we use regularly (other stuff once in a while). And soups were one of the worst contaminated things

Oh I wanted to add that these soup cans don't have the white plastic looking interior - the coating is clear. I had been wondering before if the white look was a way for us to ID the BPA coating, but I guess that is NOT the case.

[Gumby]

Maybe some of you have these bottles/cups... but BornFree makes baby bottles and trainer cups that are Bis A free. They use polyamide.

www.newbornfree.com

I've seen them at Whole Foods too.

I'm so glad to read that TJ's doesn't use Bis A in their cans.

All the more reason to eat fresh! If only it were always so easy...

[Synchro246]

Originally Posted by BrittanySmiles

Maybe some of you have these bottles/cups... but BornFree makes baby bottles and trainer cups that are Bis A free. They use polyamide.

www.newbornfree.com

I've seen them at Whole Foods too.

I'm so glad to read that TJ's doesn't use Bis A in their cans.

All the more reason to eat fresh! If only it were always so easy...

I'm sorry, but that's a big rip off. Those bottles are soooooooooooo expensive and it's not like BPA free bottles are hard to find.

Playtex drop in liners are #4--no known hazards (their ventaire ones are polycarb and do have the problem though)
Gerber makes some #5 bottles (I'm pretty sure--I need to double check)--no known hazzards
and Glass bottles by evenflo are ~$10-15 for a pack of three (compared to $10 each for bornfree's)

It ticks me off when a company takes advantage of a niche like that (charging more because they point out that it's "safe").

[geje]

MAM/Sassy also makes #5 polypropylene bottles with a good anti-colic design for a reasonable price. You can get them at target.com. I couldn't pay $10 for a bornfree bottle. And I'm not sure what polyamide is. Anyone?

[DoubleLove]

Fortunately, all Medela (the breast-pump company) plastics are free of bisphenol-A, which would include the bottles that come with the pumps/kits. BornFree is a total rip off...$10/bottle give me a break! Evenflo glass are $2.5 each http://estore.websitepros.com/1299398/Detail.bok?no=100.

I'm going : trying to get all this toxic crap out of my family's life. I'm just so : that our expensive organic canned foods are sitting in toxins. I feel betrayed !

I really thank those of you who have emailed/contacted the various companies listed in this thread.

[Kleine Hexe]

Originally Posted by DoubleLove

I'm going : trying to get all this toxic crap out of my family's life. I'm just so : that our expensive organic canned foods are sitting in toxins. I feel betrayed !

Ditto! It's a horrible feeling thinking that I've been feeding my family healthy food and then to find out it may have toxins in it. :

[DoubleLove]

I just contacted Westbrae Natural (1-800-434-4246) and their consumer relations guy states that their canned foods (beans specifically, which we eat all the time) have not been tested for the presence of Bisphenol-A and that they "cannot guarantee that small amounts are not in it because it hasn't been specifically tested for". Hum? Sounds fishy?

Nevertheless, I encouraged them to specifically test for BPA, to inform consumers of the specifics regarding the so called "food safe resin" they do use, and to not use BPA period, and if they do, seek a completely non-toxic alternative. It feel good & empowering to have done this! I think I'll contact more companies by phone...that is, with all my free time...I have 7 mo old twins !

He also referred me to more research info on BPA done by the American Council on Science and Health at http://www.acsh.org/publications/, (then type in BPA under "quick search" in the upper right of the screen). Tons of research came up. For what it's worth, he did say the recent studies that have caused an uproar were poorly conducted.

[DollyX]

i gotta bump this ...good info...scary too.

[wallacesmum]

Wodstock Farms emailed me to say they do not use BPA-lined cans.

[krankedyann]

[momaste]

Does anyone know if the plastic in Foodsaver bags is dangerous? I've been freezing meals in it and am not sure what I'd freeze in if these aren't safe.

Also, not specifically about leaching into food, but how about the replaceable heads on electric toothbrushes?

This whole issue makes me anxious.

[jlazx2]

:

[milky_mama]

I also feel sick about all of this ... sometimes I feel so overwhelmed about what is safe and what isn't! :

Does anyone know about the 365 Whole Foods Brand?

[mommy2gwen]

So let me see if this is right...

Ziploc bags are okay to use?

What if a bowl doesnt have a number, should I consider it a number 7?

So anything with a 4 or 5 is safe to eat from, right?

I am pissed about the cans by the way. GRRRRR.

Makes me want to go back in time when it was the norm to grow your own food and can it.

Dawn

[Synchro246]

Ziploc bags are #4 (Though I seem to remember something about not HEATING in them. . .)