The food in your pantry might not be as safe as you think, or as safe as it should be. Meals involving one or more cans of food can cause an individual to ingest levels of BPA (bisphenol A) that have been shown to cause health effects in laboratory animal studies, according to a new study released today by The National Workgroup for Safe Markets, a coalition of public health and environmental health groups, and Clean Water Action.

The study, No Silver Lining, is co-authored by Clean Water Action's Mia Davis and tested food from 50 cans from 19 US states and one Canadian province for BPA contamination. Over 90% of the cans tested had detectable levels of BPA, some at higher levels than have been detected in previous studies. The canned foods tested were brand name fish, fruits, vegetables, beans, soups, tomato products, sodas, and milks, which together represent "real-life" meal options for a wide range of North American consumers. The cans were purchased from retail stores and were chosen from report participants' pantry shelves, then sent to an independent laboratory for testing. One can of Del Monte green beans had the highest levels of BPA ever found in canned food, at 1,140 parts per billion.

No Silver Lining shows there is no consistency in the amount of BPA in specific food brands or in types of food, which prevents consumers from being able to avoid BPA canned foods just by looking at a label. For example, two different cans of the same brand of peas with two separate "lot numbers" were drastically different: one had six parts per billion of BPA, while the other had over 300 parts per billion of BPA.

"We commissioned this study to see how much BPA might be consumed from canned foods in a typical, everyday American diet," explained Mia Davis from Clean Water Action, one of the report's co-authors. "We wondered - is the BPA ingested in canned foods alone enough to cause concern? Unfortunately, it is, and we know that we're exposed daily to hormone disruptors like BPA from other sources as well."

Download the complete report (pdf, 1.9 MB)

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