I started canning last year not only to save money on my groceries, but to preserve the bounty of my own organic garden. You know, trying to keep as many chemicals out of our food as I can. And while I would love to eat more of our food raw, the 5-6 month non-growing season doesn’t make that possible – so I must can.
A couple years ago I also found out about BPA (bispenol-A), which is an industrial chemical that has estrogenic properties. This means that it can mimic the estrogen hormone in your body causing reproductive and hormonal problems in both you and baby. And speaking of baby, it can also cause issues with development. I decided to stay away from BPA whenever possible! I stopped reheating food in plastic containers, stopped storing hot or fatty foods in plastic, and started drinking out of glass or BPA free containers. I’ve also been careful with the food products I buy, because store bought canned food also has BPA in the liner, to keep the aluminum from leaching into your food. Mmmm….. chemicals to prevent chemicals.
So I was very disheartened when I recieved this months Organic Gardening. It seems that the underside of those Ball and Kerr lids I’ve been buying actually have BPA in them! In the Q&A area of Ball’s website someone asked about this. Here is their response:
Jarden Home Brands manufacturer of home canning lids: Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest, and Bernardin brands follow the same rigorous FDA standards used by the commercial food packaging industry. Like the majority of commercial food packagers using glass jars with metal closures and metal sanitary cans, the coating on our home canning lids is designed to protect the metal from reacting with the food it contains. A small amount of Bisphenol A is present in the coating. The FDA does not limit Bisphenol A in commercially packaged foods, and is aligned with the international scientific community’s position that a small amount of Bisphenol A in contact with “canned foods” is not a health concern for the general public.
Now, granted, the food would need to come into contact with the underside of the lid to contaminate it. So we may not have a huge cause for concern. But…..can we be so sure our food remains toxin free? Personally I’m trying not to freak out about this. I know my food is still safer than what I could purchase at the stores. And I also know that I keep a deeper headspace when canning (cause I’m to lazy to actually figure out 1/4in…..) so not to much should be up there touching the lid, even at a boil. I also know that I keep my jars vertical all the time, so the food does’t have an opportunity to sit on the lid either. (a good reason not to use the inversion method while canning!)
Still…..this bothers me.
There is at least one BPA free canning product on the market made by Weck. They use glass lids as well as jars and you use a rubber seal between them along with metal clasps during sealing. As an added plus, the jars are really pretty. I wonder though if they’d fit our normal mason jars or if I’d have to start all over again with jars. Because they are pretty pricy. Although, you never have to keep buying lids so long term it might be worth it.
So what you think of this information and do you know of any other options for canning lids?
Also…..Hey Jarden! let’s get the BPA out of our food!!
***and if you haven’t yet heard, I’ll be hosting the first ever Real Food Twitter Party next Thursday (11/5) from 9-11pm EST. Use the hash tag #realfood . One lucky party go-er will also win a copy of Nourishing Traditions!!!
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About Donielle
I didn’t know all this about BPA. Do you have any other resources about it? Are tupperware products okay? How can I figure out what products are okay, and which ones aren’t? ^_^ Thanks!
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donielle Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
@ekwetzel, Here is another post I’ve done on BPA: http://www.naturallyknockedup.com/?p=564
And a good source to check out is the EWG:
http://ewg.org/
Just do a search on their page for BPA!
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ekwetzel Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
@donielle, ;o) Thanks!
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Melissa Reply:
January 29th, 2012 at 12:32 am
Some of tupperware’s products do contain BPA. They think it’s just fine, thank you very much, as the government says so. I disagree, but they didn’t ask me.
http://order.tupperware.com/pls/htprod_www/tup_widget.show_page?fv_page_code=safetyqa&fv_section_name=help&fv_category_code=search&fv_item_category_code=200500
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I was thinking the same thing–they are pricey, but I wouldn’t have to replace them every year. In addition, there is less waste. They are far more attractive, in my opinion, than the metal rings/lids anyway. However, I’m a bit upset that here I am canning my ORGANIC goods, trying to keep the junk out of my family’s body-only to know now, that that, too, wasn’t enough.
Enough with the CHEMICALS already!!!
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donielle Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
@Phoebe @ Cents to Get Debt Free, I know, right? For now I guess I’ll just be leaving a bit more headspace than normal. And I’m sure the keeping them vertical all the time helps with the leaching issue. I wish I could find some testing info on it. Maybe the EWG will get on that at some point!
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what do you think about the freezer containers? I think Jarden makes those too….
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donielle Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
@Gudrun, The same link to their Q&A says that no, they don’t have BPA in the freezer containers.
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http://zrecs.com also has great information about BPA on their zrecomends blog.
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donielle Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
@Krista, Yes, they do-thanks for leaving the link!
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I was shocked too when I read the article in Organic Gardening! I assumed that the canning jars I had wouldn’t have BPA because they are glass – I totally forgot to check the lids. I’m really glad Organic Gardening pointed this out to us, naive people.
Thanks so much for sharing – I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one. 
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donielle Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
@Sarah G, Makes you wonder why we didn’t think of it, huh!
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That is too funny…I just read this same article in that magazine last week! I dog-eared the page to come back to it and look up the price of those canning jars online! I do think they are beautiful and I haven’t even started canning or my collection on canning jars yet, so I would be off to a good start!
I also LOVE that they are reuseable lids-love that fact!!
But, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything in the rubber that could be potentially harmful also. I mean, if we worry about the metal lids, what is in the rubber or how is it processed? I might have to call the company if I do buy some just to have a peace of mind over a larger expense.
I love that you wrote about this. I can’t wait to start getting jars in hopes of starting my first family garden next spring and canning our own home grown food!
This is a perfect time to write about buying these too so I can add them to the christmas list!
That picture is beautiful…I can’t wait to decorate my home in canned goods! =)
Blessings!
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donielle Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
@tarena, I too kinda wonder about the rubber, but my thinking is, as little as the food actually touches the lid, and the fact that it’s not the entire bottom of the lid, I feel better about it. Now to find a whole lot of extra $!
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I love my glass jars – I keep everything in them. When something like this BPA issue comes up I have to remind myself that progress, not perfection, is what works for me. At least it’s better than what it was. Not that I think chemicals are a good thing, but using glass jars significantly reduces them.
I try to do my best with what I can and let the rest go. Sometimes I can make myself crazy trying to be perfect.
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donielle Reply:
October 31st, 2009 at 8:23 am
@Amy @ Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free, That’s kind of the way I try to look at things as well. Especially since I can’t afford to do it all. Some conventional produce vs. ALL conventional produce, some sweets vs. sweets everyday
I do like the *knowing* part of it though. Because now I can take a few extra precautions, like leaving a tad bit more headspace, etc. I just hate when I’m in the dark about stuff!
I love that phrase “progress, not perfection”
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My Nana always used to put a half inch layer of melted wax on top of the food before the lid, this would protect from the bpa as an added benefit i believe. When we opened each jar, we would simply discard the wax.
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I just found your blog and we have the same concern about canning lids and I don’t know about you but I can’t just go out and replace all of my jars with Weck jars. I did find a company called Tattler that makes a reusable BPA free canning lid….now I haven’t tried them yet but I’m planning on ordering some this spring for summer and fall canning.
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donielle Reply:
January 10th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
@Melody D, I totally can not replace all my jars!! I’ll have to check them out! Thanks for the tip, I’d searched all over and couldn’t find any BPA free lids!
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Melody D Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
@donielle,
This is the site I found http://www.tattlerreusablecanningjarlids.com. I ended up emailing the company and this was his email back to me; I think its funny that their lids are BPA free but they don’t think BPA is a problem…weird:
Re: E-MAIL: TattlerReusableCanningJarLids.com
…
Tue, January 5, 2010 9:15:19 AM
From:
Loren Stieg [Chat now]
…
Add to Contacts
To: @yahoo.com
Our product does not contain BPA. The BPA compound is found in plastiic bottles etc, entirely different material from which these are molded. Here are also some links to BPA info., it seems it is more of a scare than anything. FYI, It appears the standard metal lids do contain the BPA compound.
Plasticsmythbuster.org
FactsaboutBPA.org
Americanchemistry.com/plastics div
Plasticsinfo.org
If you have further questions please feel free to ask.
L.C. Stieg
L&D Enterprises
Hope that helps
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Lorie Reply:
September 1st, 2010 at 11:12 am
@Melody D, None! Why is that so hard? I’m sure they didn’t always use BPA, so STOP!!!!!
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Laura's Last Ditch--Vintage Kitchenwares Reply:
March 19th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
I don’t know if many of your readers are in Grand Rapids, but if so, I sell them locally.
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Be sure you read how the Tattler lids are made though. They use formaldyhide in the processing. Ugh…. Kind of a, which poison do you want exposed to choice…..
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Where did you see that Karen?
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So, I am pretty let down by the BPA in my canning lids, but at least my food is not touching the lids like in canned foods.
I also use my glass jars as storage containers. Instead of using tupperware or other plastic containers I just use the funnel to put my leftovers in my canning jars. It works great!
Glass Lids – I was fortunate enough to acquire some of those glass lids – they are wonderful and also beautiful! I love them, however, they do not fit well with the rings. I have noticed that the rings do not work very well after I have used them with the glass lids. I did not know they still sold the stuff to can using them…I will be checking into getting the needed supplies!
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just a heads up… tatter lids contain formaldehyde. :/
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oops! tattler!
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