Choice has released a study into the presence of Bisphenol A in canned food products on Australian supermarket shelves. Bisphenol A, or BPA, is an industrial chemical often used in plastic and metal food packaging. It can pose health risks if the amounts consumed are large enough.
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Chris Winder is a Professor of toxicology and occupational health at the University of New South Wales
“Bisphenol A is a high volume chemical used in various plastics products, and has widespread exposure in human populations. The chemical is associated with a range of toxic effects, and some government agencies have moved to establish tolerable levels. The Choice report notes BPA has been found in canned foods, probably leaching from the plastics liners now used to seal cans. The levels reported are in the parts per billion range, and quite low. Nevertheless, attention is still needed to ensure the levels are kept as low as practicable.”
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Food Standards Australia New Zealand is the government organisation responsible for food safety. The organisation’s guidelines and regulations on BPA are online.
Lydia Buchtmann, Communications Manager at FSANZ, also provided these comments:
“Food Standards Australia New Zealand is doing a more extensive survey of BPA in Australian foods that should be published in a few months time.
There is an internationally set level of 0.05 mg per kilogram of body weight per day.
FSANZ has evaluated the safety of BPA in food, including that consumed by infants from baby bottles, and concluded that levels of intake of BPA are very low and do not pose a risk to public health for any age group.
The highest level found by Choice was in canned baby custard and our analysis shows a 9 month old baby weighing 9 kilograms would have to eat more than 1 kg of custard containing BPA every day, assuming that the custard contained the highest level of BPA found.
There will be an expert group of the World Health Organization meeting on BPA in Canada later in 2010 and FSANZ will be attending.”
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