Photo by Antonio.
Attention, shoppers: Campbell’s (FINALLY) announced plans to eliminate hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A from the linings of its soup cans. And it only took consumer outrage, countless nonprofit petitions, concern from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and hundreds of independent studies linking BPA to a hodge-podge of horrifying health maladies!
Campbell’s Soup Co. spokesman Anthony Sanzio said Monday the company has been working on alternatives for five years and will make the transition as soon as “feasible alternatives are available.”
The announcement is big news because the soup behemoth has been seriously dragging its can on the BPA front. Companies like Muir Glen, Eden Foods, and Trader Joe’s eliminated BPA from their products ages ago, and Heinz, Hain Celestial, and ConAgra already committed to phase out the chemical, which has been linked to heart disease, early onset puberty, diabetes, obesity, hyperactivity, and cancers, just to name a few. Still, more than 93 percent of Americans still show detectable levels of BPA in their urine due to the substance’s ubiquity in food packaging.
Of course the Campbell’s plan has some pretty gaping holes: It’s unclear what, exactly, the company will use to replace its BPA-loaded linings. (BPA-free linings cost more and tend to get degraded by acidic foods like tomatoes.) There’s also no time frame for when consumers can purchase their soup sans hormone-disruptors. But the fact that Campbell’s is at long last promising to give BPA the heave-ho is a step in the right direction. The company’s still not totally “M’mm M’mm Good,” but it just got “M’mm M’mm Better.”
