Supermarket Survey Confirms Low BPA Levels in Canned Food

A recent supermarket survey of a handful of canned food items by the San Francisco-based Breast Cancer Fund has provided additional evidence that only a tiny amount of bisphenol A (BPA) is detectable in food packaging, and those levels are well within the safety recommendations of government agencies, according to North American Metal Packaging Alliance Inc. (NAMPA), a Washington-based trade association.

The survey results come in the wake of a government study undertaken by a team of scientists from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The comprehensive, first-of-its-kind clinical exposure study, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), found that even the highest exposure levels of BPA from canned foods and beverages didn’t result in detectable amounts in the human bloodstream.

“The EPA-funded study emphatically showed there is not a health risk from BPA exposure in canned foods, because of how the body processes and eliminates the compound from the body, in children as well as adults,” noted Dr. John M. Rost, NAMPA chairman. “Unlike the supermarket survey, the EPA study examined what happens to BPA once in the body, and found that the human body is remarkably efficient in metabolizing and eliminating the chemical through urine. In sum, it is very unlikely that BPA could cause health effects.”

Added: Rost: “The BPA exposure levels cited in this latest supermarket survey are very consistent with similar, but much broader, surveys of packaged food conducted within the past year by government agencies, including the FDA and Health Canada. The only difference is in the conclusions reached. Based on their survey results, both FDA and Health Canada concluded that current exposure through canned foods does not pose a health risk to consumers, including newborns and infants.”

For a review of the EPA-funded serum study, visit www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21705716.