You Bet Your BPA

Good news, canned tomato fans! The Muir Glen brand has officially transitioned to BPA-free cans, reports Rebekah Denn on her blog. I'm thrilled because, as a canned-tomato-product-aholic, I was bulk ordering Pomi's boxed diced tomatoes but not finding a good price on strained tomatoes, which I wanted to substitute for canned tomato sauce. Eden Organic has introduced a line of tomato products in glass jars, but I haven't seen these in stores yet. They do sell the only canned beans that are BPA-free.

As I mentioned last week, BPA comes at us from many sources, not just our canned foods (it's in cash register receipts, for crying out loud!), but there's something particularly disturbing about eating the stuff. Environmental Science & Technology did some testing, as reported by Discovery News, with the gladdening result that NO BPA was found in "Similac infant formula, Bumble Bee Chunk Light Tuna in Water, Chef Boyardee Mac and Cheese, or Hunt's 100% Natural Tomato Paste. Canned pineapple, some soups, and a few other products also came up negative." The ones to stay away from? "Del Monte Fresh Cut Green Beans [came in] at the top of the list, followed by three types of Progresso soups."

Moving on to other chemicals, the European Union now requires products containing the "Southampton Six" of food colorings to carry warning labels, after a study done by that University suggested a link between the chemicals and increased hyperactivity in children. A similar bill was defeated in the United States. Clearly we Americans should conduct tests ourselves. May I suggest some of us schedule European vacations and see if our children are calmer and more pleasant, while the control group stays home feeding their offspring Skittles and Kraft Mac & Cheese and Gatorade? We might have to work on eliminating other variables, but I'm happy to volunteer for repeated iterations of the study...

Five weeks till the Market opens! Mark your calendar for Thursday, May 12 and all the BPA-free, artificial-color-free food you can eat!