I get the sense that everyone who can cook (i.e. pretty much everyone who isn't me) is going the foodie route with Thanksgiving these days, all free-range individual Cornish hens and Brussels sprout slaw. But if you like to go the easy/traditional/pull-stuff-together-at-the-last-minute route, use caution when reaching for the canned pumpkin or beans. The Breast Cancer Fund tested a number of Thanksgiving staples, and found that nearly half their samples were positive for BPA.
The report, "BPA in Thanksgiving Canned Food," tested Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, Campbell's Turkey Gravy, Carnation Evaporated Milk (by Nestle), Del Monte Fresh Cut Sweet Corn (Cream Style), Green Giant Cut Green Beans (by General Mills), Libby's Pumpkin (by Nestle), and Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce. Single servings of almost half of the products tested had levels of BPA comparable to levels that laboratory studies have linked to adverse health effects.
Using those canned products doesn't necessarily mean you're ingesting BPA — the investigation found a really wide range of contamination in the samples, which came from four different cans of each tested product. This could come from variations in storage, transportation, or canning process at different facilities. What it does mean, though, is that there's a risk of BPA with any of these canned foods.
On the upside, Ocean Spray canned cranberry sauce was clean in all samples! So if the photo above doesn't hurt your feelings as it does mine, you can go ahead and eat canned cranberry sauce to your heart's content.
