Rat hairs, rodent droppings, insect fragments. All of these are common in most canned foods. They come from the processing plants that the foods are prepared in. Over the years, other disgusting things have been found in canned foods like mice and whole insects. The fragments are disgusting to think about, but they really won’t harm you when you eat them. The processing destroys most of the bacteria. There are other things present in canned foods that might.
According to CNN, “The chemical bisphenol-A, more commonly known as BPA, is present in virtually all canned foods, according to a report released today by environmental groups who say the omnipresent chemical poses a health risk, especially to infants and pregnant women.”
“BPA is present in the thin plastic lining that protects the surface of metal food containers. A coalition calling itself “The National Workgroup for Safe Markets” conducted laboratory tests on 50 samples of canned food, purchased in stores or donated from home pantries in 19 U.S. states and Canada. Of the 50, 46 contained at least some BPA. The median level was 35 parts per billion, but some food had much more, as high as 1,140 parts per billion in a can of Del Monte green beans.”
In animal studies, BPA has been shown to affect hormones which are important chemicals that regulate a lot of the body’s processes. Disrupting these processes can result in behavioral problems in children and cardiovascular problems in adults.
So the question is: Is it safe to eat any food that has been processed in the modern world? Not only do we have the E-Coli problems in fresh fruits and vegetables, another report recently said that eating processed meats like lunch meat is worse for you that eating red meat. Eating a lot of fish and chicken isn’t very good either.
Chickens are raised in extremely cramped conditions on modern factory farms and forced to eat their own excrement. Birds that develop chest infections are routinely served to the public. And we all know that eating too much fish can be harmful because of the increased levels of mercury in most of them.
So what’s left, a diet of white rice and water? Oh wait, there’s prescription drugs that have been washed down the toilet in the tap water and bottled water contains all kinds of chemicals too. As a matter of fact, a lot of the bottled water is just tap water to begin with.
Really the only way to eat safe nowadays is to get buddies with a local farmer and find out if he uses any pesticides.
Source: http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/18/bpa-present-in-most-canned-food-groups-allege/?hpt=Sbin
