Report Uncovers BPA In Canned Food Marketed To Kids

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Report Uncovers BPA In Canned Food Marketed To Kids

Expert Opinion

Thursday, September 22, 2011

BPA, canned foods, Disney, Campbell by Melissa Walthers, Breast Cancer Fund

It's hard enough having to take your kid to the grocery store without being bombarded by every cartoon character imaginable trying to sell cookies, candy or soda. But I couldn't believe it when I looked over and saw the latest Disney characters and Sesame Street monsters plastered on the cans of food that I knew likely contained the toxic chemical bisphenol A.

This is the estrogenic chemical that I've been trying to avoid in baby bottles, sippy cups and infant formula since the birth of my son a year and a half ago. But while baby bottles are now largely stamped "BPA-free," there's no mention of BPA on most canned foods.

Now the Breast Cancer Fund has uncovered the presence of BPA in these canned foods marketed directly to young kids in our report released yesterday, BPA in Kids' Canned Food. We tested 12 canned food items—two cans of each of six canned meal products—marketed to and largely consumed by children, including:

Annie's Homegrown Cheesy Ravioli
Campbell's Disney Princess Cool Shapes, Shaped Pasta with Chicken in Chicken Broth
Campbell's Spaghettios with Meatballs
Campbell's Toy Story Fun Shapes, Shaped Pasta with Chicken in Chicken Broth
Chef Boyardee Whole Grain Pasta, Mini ABC's & 123's with Meatballs
Earth's Best Organic Elmo Noodlemania Soup

Every food sample tested positive for BPA, with Campbell's Disney Princess and Toy Story soups testing the highest. Find all our test results here.

Now it's canned foods that are exposing small kids to BPA at similar levels as the baby bottles that have been banned in numerous states and largely driven off of store shelves. What concerns me most is that children may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of hormone-disrupting chemicals like BPA.

There should be no place for toxic chemicals linked to breast cancer and other serious health problems in our children's food. I hope you'll join me today by asking Campbell Soup Company, ConAgra (maker of Chef Boyardee), Annie's Homegrown and Hain Celestial (maker of Earth's Best) to stop marketing BPA to kids in their canned foods.

But we're not stopping there; the Breast Cancer Fund has launched the Cans Not Cancer campaign, creating a national voice to urge canned food manufacturers to replace BPA with a safer alternative.

It's time for moms across the country to unite, just like we have for BPA-free baby bottles and phthalate-free toys, and demand that canned food companies stop marketing this toxic chemical to our kids.

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Act now:

Sign the petition telling Campbell’s that BPA is not “M’m mm good!”
Follow these tips to avoid the sneakiest sources of BPA.
Sign-up for Healthy Child’s weekly newsletter for updates on BPA and tons of tips for creating a cleaner, greener, safer home.
Learn more about the Breast Cancer Fund and check out The Breast Cancer DVD.

Photo courtesy The Breast Cancer Fund.

Posted by baby strollers on 09/24/2011 at 10:18 AM

This doesn’t surprise me one bit. Listen, that stuff is usually not good for your kids anyway, what with the salt and so on. You are far better off to buy a blender and fresh veggies, meats and so on and just make stuff yourself. Even better, just teach your little ones to eat what you eat. You are cooking for yourself anyway, just throw it in the blender when they are little-little? As they age, just introduce soft carrots, chicken and so on. Leave the canned stuff on the shelf. It’s overpriced and unhealthy.

Posted by Hazel on 09/23/2011 at 07:48 PM

Luckily it’s quite easy to avoid this problem: by choosing fresh or frozen, by growing your own if you’ve the resources and avoiding processed foods wherever possible.

It’s another message from nature that all this processing and packaging we’ve become so reliant upon is not a good thing.

Thanks for providing an interesting forum for discussing some important issues.

Posted by Hazel on 09/23/2011 at 07:38 PM

I found this article and the issue of BPA’s presence in canned foods somewhat alarming. So much so that it got me doing more research and uncovering some conflicting views and findings on the subject.
In the final analysis it is the overstretched parent or carer who has to judge, and to try to make sense of it all for the sake of their family.
I think an awareness that the more extreme and alarmist views may well be fuelled by ulterior motives is healthy, and can help parents to make a more objective decision.
My approach is not only to be informed, but to trust my own instincts and use my common sense as well; if I were using canned foods everyday I’d consider reducing that (not just because of any potential health risk, but because canned food is quite wasteful of the earth’s resources and because it might indicate I’m not using enough fresh food). Eating a wide variety of foods from a wide variety of sources (fresh, frozen, canned, dried etc) is a great way to ensure balance and protect the health of your family. For me, a balanced approach is the key.

Posted by Natalia goldman, MD on 09/23/2011 at 01:21 PM

What about all the cans of baby food? Organic or not, the tops on glass jars likely have bpa!!!

I make my own baby food instead and store in canning jars.
There is bpa in the lids on jars used for canning.
So I just make my own baby food, put it in the glass jars, use the tin ring top but silicone circle inserts (that I cut out) instead of the regular bpa containing lid discs. They sell plastic tops but I feel silicone is safer ESP because I freezing it.
People think I am crazy but only way I can sort of control what is in my baby food.

Posted by Lorelei on 09/23/2011 at 12:47 PM

Randjm - yes there is BPA in the canned tomatoes especially. You may be able to find some carton tomatoes. Bionature sells organic tomato paste in a jar. I buy the organic broth in the cartons.

Here is a list of companies that offer BPA free cans:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/03/7-bpa-free-canned-foods.php

(hope it was ok to post this link)short

Posted by Randjm on 09/22/2011 at 10:09 AM

I don’t purchase any canned soups or pastas because of their crazy sodium levels—but what about canned tomatoes, broths, olives, artichokes? Is there BPA in that too?!

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