Waiter, There's BPA in My Soup

[Donnachaidh]

http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/09/plastic-bpa-in-cans

Plastic liners leach BPA into our food. So why have manufacturers and regulators failed to act?

I'm too lazy a cook not to love cans. Quick, cheap, and recyclable, they've gotten me through many a long, tomatoless winter. Besides, I inherited a kind of a feminist reverence for them—didn't packaged foods help women cast off their domestic chains and all that? But recent research suggests that modern feminists, especially those inclined toward motherhood, might want to think twice before stocking up on Progresso soup.

Peek inside any can and you'll notice a thin film separating your food from the metal. During the 1950s, manufacturers began lining cans with plastic to fend off bacteria that could get into food and drinks if the container corroded. The biggest concern was food-borne botulism, an illness that used to kill six in ten of its victims. Thanks to liners and rigorous sterilization, botulism in commercial canned goods is now pretty rare. Trouble is, most can liners contain bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that can leach into the food. Last year, the nonprofit Consumers Union found it in 18 of 19 canned foods it tested: Progresso Vegetable Soup topped the list with 22 micrograms of BPA per serving—116 times Consumers Union's recommended daily limit, which is based on animal studies.

Not good, considering the list of modern plagues researchers have tentatively linked to the chemical: obesity, diabetes, heart disease, breast and prostate cancer, and reproductive problems, among others. Many scientists suspect that BPA interferes with hormonal function—especially in fetuses and children: A 2005 study published in the journal Human Reproduction found that women who had miscarried three or more times showed significantly higher levels of the chemical than women who'd had successful pregnancies.

In an ongoing study at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, part of which was published last December, mothers with higher levels of BPA in their urine early in pregnancy tended to have daughters who behaved more aggressively than daughters of moms with low BPA levels. Hugh Taylor, an expert in reproductive endocrinology at Yale School of Medicine, thinks some of BPA's effects might not show up for a generation: His team injected pregnant mice with the chemical and found that it altered the babies' uterine genes, leaving them less fertile than their mothers.

MORE at the link ---

[catgirl]

1. Figures Annie' is on yet another list

Fake "natural" company. Annie's overpriced salty products are NOT healthful. Their veggie burgers made it onto another list due to hexane tainted
soy beans.

[JSK]

3. Any processed food is never ideal

But Annie's made a statement after the hexane lists came out and said that, effective immediately, none of the soy in their products would contain hexane.

[catgirl]

4. So they went organic?

And they announced this after they were busted? Will they reduce the salt too... after some study puts them
on a high sodium list? The fact is, their food is not healthy and they have no business charging what they do
and trying to deceive consumers into thinking their products are healthier than others out there.

[monmouth]

2. The inside liners of popcorn bags are supposed to be bad also...n/t

[catgirl]

6. And the plastic that holds breakfast cereal

I've noticed a weird smell on plastic bread bags lately. I was thinking the smell may be due to recycled
plastic that had fragrances on them. The bread itself takes on the fragrance. Now I have to wonder...

[monmouth]

9. Makes having to diet a little more tempting...LOL...n/t

[Donnachaidh]

11. I make the vaste majority of our bread, but we do buy locally made bread

I would probably be concerned about the bags if I was buying bread from big box stores, or some other store that ships them in. :shrug:

[catgirl]

12. I only buy locally made too

that's why I think the smell is from recycled plastic bags. This just started happening (that the bread has the flavor of the bag). It's
great bread made in the Berkshires. I need to email them about this.

I need to start making my own bread too. Yum.

[Donnachaidh]

13. a bread machine is an investment that goes a LONG way

I have two -- and fire both up during the holidays.

[catgirl]

14. Wood Prairie Farm (in Maine) has grains I'm interested in

They have a bread machine that I've been eyeing too. :-)

I buy their seed potatoes. They are a nice family farm that I like to support.

[Jamastiene]

16. Do you use a bread maker of some kind or bake it in a regular oven?

I'm curious, because if you do it in a regular oven, and would be willing, I'd love to see a good solid recipe for regular loaf bread. Every time I have tried to make bread, I end up with something akin to dog treats, only shaped different. The dogs loved it, but I kind of wanted to have actual bread when I got finished.

[Donnachaidh]

17. I use the bread maker for the dough part, and bake in the oven

I used to HATE the paddle holes left in the loaf when I used the baking part of the machine. So I dragged out my pans and started baking in the oven. I even add another rise (depending on the bread) and I make bread my guys literally jump on straight out of the oven.

I have problems with my hands (disabled) and the mixing/kneading stuff gives me problems. But the bread machine stops a lot of the problems - and I literally throw the ingredients in first thing in the morning, and have wonderful bread by the afternoon.

I'm debating buying more pans to make french bread, etc. I may ask Santa for those this year.

[proverbialwisdom]

5. Check out Eden Organic products (also available at Amazon)

http://www.edenfoods.com/articles/view.php?articles_id=178



All 33 Eden Organic Beans including Chili, Rice & Beans, Refried, and Flavored, are cooked in steel cans coated with a baked on oleoresinous c-enamel that does not contain the endocrine disrupter chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA). Oleoresin is a non-toxic mixture of an oil and a resin extracted from various plants, such as pine or balsam fir. These cans cost 14% more than the industry standard cans that do contain BPA. The Ball Corporation tells us that Eden is the only U.S. food maker to date to use these BPA free cans and we have been since April 1999.

[catgirl]

10. But their tomatoes are in BPA lined cans

From the link in your post:

For the moment, Eden Foods tomato products are packaged in industry-standard BPA-containing cans. "The FDA hasn't approved any other type of can lining for highly acidic foods," Potter said.


So, in other words- all canned tomato products are dangerous to your health.

[proverbialwisdom]

15. And your point is?

Yes, it appears Bis-phenol is unavoidable in canned tomatoes ONLY. For other canned products,choose Eden Foods to avoid BPA.

[Swamp Rat]

7. There's BP crude in your shrimp and oysters too

[el_bryanto]

8. The Brighton Port Authority gets everywhere. n/t