Foodaries

General Mills Subsidiary Muir Glen Announces Organic Tomatoes In New BPA Free Cans

January 4th, 2011 Posted by: admin Category: Food Safety | 3 Comments » \\Topics: bisphenol a, bpa, canned food, general mills, muir glen, organic, tomatoes

In its recent “Corporate Social Responsibility 2010 Report” General Mills has announced that they have found a BPA-free alternative can liner that apparently works with tomatoes, a highly acidic product that has long baffled the industry in terms of finding a suitable substitute.

They have said that their organic tomato subsidiary, Muir Glen, will being to use the new can liners during the next harvest.

Thus far, there has been no word on whether General Mills will use BPA-free alternatives on any of its other canned products, but the report mentioned that they have not found BPA alternatives that will work for all of the different foods they package in cans.

BPA has been connected to a range of health concerns like cancer, developmental problems and reproductive issues in laboratory tests. Some states and cities in the U.S. have banned its use in certain products, primarily in items for young children that will come into contact with food. Many companies have voluntarily removed BPA from their products or required suppliers to provide BPA-free options.

The chemical is found in numerous products, but its use in hard plastics and plastic liners in metal cans have been of primary concern because in those cases it can more easily leach into foods and, in turn, into people’s bodies.

Muir Glen started using the BPA cans over this summer, but the company does not have plans to label the cans as BPA free.

They did however release this statement:

“One alternative has proven safe and viable in our processing of tomatoes – and Muir Glen has begun the transition to cans with liners that do not use BPA with this year’s tomato harvest. It is an approved non-epoxy alternative. Can coatings used by Muir Glen also comply fully with all applicable U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements for safe use in food contact applications. The BPA free cans will have a Better If Used By code date year of 2013.”

If you want to support the use of BPA free cans you can look for the Muir Glen’s Organic Tomatoes to be labeled in the cans “Best Used by 2013″

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