Home canning lids coated with bisphenol A
Did you know that Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest and Bernardin brand canning lids are coated with bisphenol A (BPA)?!
- Plastic Not Fantastic with Bisphenol A (www.scientificamerican.com)
- US FDA statement on bisphenol A from 2008
- 1998 Frontline Fooling With Nature, interview Fredrick Vom Saal, Ph.D.
- Plastics Industry Bisphenol A information site
- An Endocrine/Estrogen Letter special Report on BPA
- Gross L (June 2007). “The Toxic Origins of Disease“. PLoS Biol. 5 (7): e193. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050193. PMID 17594178. PMC: 1896186. http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050193. – an essay examining some of the evidence and effects.
- Myers, John Peterson; et al. (March 2009). “Why Public Health Agencies Cannot Depend on Good Laboratory Practices as a Criterion for Selecting Data: The Case of Bisphenol A“. Environmental Health Perspectives 17 (3): 309–315. http://www.ehponline.org/members/2008/0800173/0800173.html.
- Hazard in a bottle Attempt to regulate BPA in California defeated (from The Economist)
- News Story about Canadian Study on PBA Free Marketed Bottles not being BPA Free
- Bondesson, M.; Jönsson, J.; Pongratz, I.; Olea, N.; Cravedi, J.; Zalko, D.; Håkansson, H.; Halldin, K. et al. (Jul 2009). “A CASCADE of effects of bisphenol A”. Reproductive toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.). doi:10.1016/j.reprotox.2009.06.014. ISSN 0890-6238. PMID 19577634. edit
- How to Protect Your Baby from BPA (Bisphenol A)
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Massimo said,
October 23, 2009 at 3:37 am
Yes I did. I also wrote a post about it on my blog (in Italian). The tins of most canned tomatoes in Italy contains PBA. The acidity of the tomatoes may help the release of the execrable stuff from the coating.
Out of topic: great blog!
Ren said,
October 23, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Tomatoes are a particular problem due to the high-acid content. In the US, only one major producer that I know of (Eden Organics) uses BPA-free cans..
Dink said,
October 23, 2009 at 6:31 am
So , now what should we do? Aszide from writing to the companies
Ren said,
October 23, 2009 at 7:56 am
I don’t know yet, I just found out about this.
Michaela said,
October 23, 2009 at 9:44 am
I’ve been reading about this. While it can pose a problem, typically home canned goods are stored upright. Since all canning recipes call for headspace, the odds of your food actually becoming contaminated are slim, because the food does not touch the lid. Now if you order homecanned goods & have them shipped, the odds become greater because you don’t know how they’ve been handled- laying on their sides, being sloshed around, etc. BPA does not leech into dry foods from what I’ve read either. So storing dry items should be ok as well. Again, you still want to keep them upright, because depending on moisture in dry goods & humidity, things are never 100%.
A German company called Weck offers all glass canning lids, too. I don’t know much about them, so one will need to do their own research into the company & their products. I’m working on learning about them now.
Again, this is from what I’ve read, please correct me if I’m wrong.
Ren said,
October 23, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Its bad.
As of December 2004, 94 of 115 peer-reviewed studies had confirmed BPA’s toxicity at low levels of exposure. At some of the very lowest doses the chemical causes permanent alterations of breast and prostate cells that precede cancer, insulin resistance (a hallmark trait of Type II diabetes), and chromosomal damage linked to recurrent miscarriage and a wide range of birth defects including Down’s syndrome (vom Saal and Hughes 2005). Few chemicals have been found to consistently display such a diverse range of harm at such low doses.
Yet all of the most recent government reviews of bisphenol A have failed to set safety standards consistent with the chemical’s low-dose toxicity. Each one either preceded the development of the low-dose literature, or heavily weighted industry-sponsored studies that are now known to have fundamental design flaws rendering them incapable of detecting BPA toxicity.
Read more
Peggy said,
October 23, 2009 at 2:46 pm
No! Not my precious home canning stuff! I went to that to avoid the plastics, metal and BPA in storeboughts! This is just too frustrating for words.
Ren said,
October 23, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I know! I’m looking into alternatives, will post here as soon as I know more.
In the meantime, please put pressure on the parent of the Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest and Bernardin brands:
Jarden Home Brands
Consumer Affairs
14611 West Commerce Road
P.O. Box 529
Daleville, IN 47334
617-585-5794
Jenny @ Nourished Kitchen said,
October 23, 2009 at 3:44 pm
This is one of the biggest reasons why I ditched home canning this year. I was also concerned about how severely nutrients are damaged by the high heat of canning. In the future I plan to use Weck – partly because they’re attractive jars.
Ren said,
October 23, 2009 at 4:06 pm
These Bormioli Rocco jars are looking pretty good too
Michaela said,
October 23, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Ren, I’m a bit confused. The link you provided speaks for commercially canned food. I understand how bad BPA is, but I’m not sure what you are getting at with the link? Please explain?
I also plan on contacting Jarden.
Ren said,
October 23, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I’m not promoting canned food, just thinking of Jarden’s lame excuses vs Eden’s principled efforts.
I guess the point is that its damned near impossible to avoid toxic materials from coming into contact with the food that we eat, even when we think we’re doing everything right. I’m also thinking of the 100’s of millions of Americans who trust that our food system isn’t going to harm them.
Michaela said,
October 23, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Yeah, I’m learning more & more each day how hard it is to do anything with ANY semblance of safety :-( And the reason why these corporations can get away with it is because of those 100’s of millions of Americans who trust that our food system isn’t going to harm them. GRRR!!!
Ren said,
October 23, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I feel that we’re winning this war, if only by inches. Live well, laugh, keep fighting :)
Tara said,
October 23, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Hi Ren,
Thanks for posting about this. I mentioned this issue in a post I did on my blog a few days ago. I have pictures there of the glass lids I use.
All of my jars are either from my Grandma or from her era. You can pick up vintage jars for a decent price from thrift stores. These jars have glass lids with the rubber ring seal. You can see them on my blog here http://harvestinghealth.blogspot.com/2009/10/fermenting-veggies-for-happy-tummy.html
Great post!
Tara
Ren said,
October 23, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Thanks, Tara!
Seems I never got the memo on this issue, only first hearing about it yesterday. I saw your fermented veggies, btw – fantastic!
Michaela said,
October 23, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Your veggies are beautiful!
Ren said,
October 23, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Yes, looks like glass is definitely the way to go. How lucky you are to have heirloom jars!
Tara said,
October 23, 2009 at 9:27 pm
There are loads of them at thrift stores! They’re still selling for under a dollar at all of the second hand stores. Worth looking around for before everybody starts scoping them out! :)
Ren said,
October 23, 2009 at 9:42 pm
OK, I’m convinced! :)
sustainableeats said,
October 23, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Hi Ren,
I have known about this and try to use only water bath processing since I’m sure pressure canning adds to the amount of leaching. Any canned item you buy in the store has BPA lining as well. The weck jars are great but cost an arm and a leg and the olden ones are not in any thrift stores in large cities for sure so not practical for someone like me who cans, dries or ferments all our food that we grew or sourced from the farmer. It’s not practical to ferment all your food either since that won’t last until summer when you get new produce and our freezer is dedicated to meat for the winter.
I’ve been working on an article about this for a canning site – my ardent desire is to start an activism opportunity. When I do I’ll be hitting everyone’s blogs for participation. Rather than ask everyone to replace their entire collection of glass jars (many of which were hundreds of dollars) all the jar companies have to do is come up with a new lid lining. We all buy new lids each time anyway.
I do believe the can industry will be scrambling for new lining soon or may even have it in the works with all the press about BPA. Fingers crossed…
Heather H. said,
October 27, 2009 at 11:57 am
I’m calling the company right now! Is nothing sacred! Here is a link to the ‘email us’ portion of their website.
Heather H. said,
October 27, 2009 at 11:58 am
http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/contact_us/10.php
Heather H. said,
October 30, 2009 at 3:02 pm
This is the response I got back via email from Jarden Home Brands. Although I personally don’t trust the FDA farther than I can throw them.
Dear Heather H. :
Jarden Home Brands manufacturer of home canning lids: Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest, and Bernardin brands follow the same rigorous FDA standards used by the commercial food packaging industry. Like the majority of commercial food packagers using glass jars with metal closures and metal sanitary cans, the coating on our home canning lids is designed to protect the metal from reacting with the food it contains. A small amount of Bisphenol A is present in the coating. The FDA does not limit Bisphenol A in commercially packaged foods, and is aligned with the international scientific community’s position that a small amount of Bisphenol A in contact with “canned foods” is not a health concern for the general public.
Sincerely,
Jarden Home Brands
Ren said,
October 30, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I got the same exact lawyer-approved non-response.. http://pic.gd/2af471
Its clear that they have no concern whatsoever for the health and well-being of their customers, and will not act until made to do so by law or economic pressure.
Folks, please start calling 765-557-3007 and let Jarden know that you’re taking your money elsewhere.
Michaela said,
October 30, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Keep emailing them, over & over again. When I sent mine, I specifically told them I wasn’t interested in a book definition response as quoted from the FDA. I also let them know, I’d be sending snail mail letters as well to other ppl in the company. That’s one of my projects next week.
Ren, please bring forth more causes we can band together on. Maybe you can start weekly “carnival” of sorts to email companies? That way we can contact in droves!! We won’t be just one voice, we can be many, screaming the SAME thing!
Michaela said,
October 30, 2009 at 4:40 pm
PS, I mean email them until they quit giving an auto-response. Make them aware you don’t want their legal quotes.
Ren said,
October 30, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Right! I think that phone calls and handwritten letters have more impact, but definitely do email as well.
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November 3, 2009 at 5:25 pm
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