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Amend that to stay away from plastics for food storage. Food microwaved in borosilicate glass food containers is unlikely to pick up plasticizers. The challen

Amend that to stay away from plastics for food storage. Food microwaved in borosilicate glass food containers is unlikely to pick up plasticizers. The challenge increases when you realize that a lot of canned foods have a plastic coating inside, to protect the can metal from corrosion by the canning liquid, particularly when that liquid is acidic, as with tomatoes or carbonated beverages.

sizzle 7y ago
How do you minimize exposure to nasty compounds in canned or packaged foods from typical convenient shopping stores like Costco, trader Joe's, etc other than growing everything yourself?
- logfromblammo 7y ago
  Yes, an excellent question. I suppose you have to lobby your legislators to pass food safety laws that prohibit polymers and epoxies based on bisphenol-A to be in contact with foods or beverages, specifically, and generally any other substances proven to leach endocrine disruptors into food or beverage under typical handling and storage conditions. Some food and beverage companies have identified this as a problem and are attempting to fix it in their own supply, but the majority of canned foods still have BPA-epoxy can linings, and most foods with a cardboard outer packaging also have a plastic inner packaging. Then there are the foods directly packaged in plastic containers. PET (1), HDPE (2), LDPE (4), and PP (5) are probably safe over the timespan you will be using them, but PVC (3), PC (7), and PS (6) may leach plasticizers into your consumables that mimic or interfere with the natural signaling chemicals in your body. The recycling symbol is no guarantee. Organic chemistry can produce a lot of different chemicals in very common environmental conditions; that's why life is based on it in the first place. You can still do things to a "safe" plastic to produce unwanted reaction products. If you buy foods in glass, silicone (polysiloxane), or stainless steel, you're probably okay. Ceramics and stoneware might leach heavy metal ions, but you're probably safe from any unwanted organic molecules. Brands that find this to be important will probably advertise as "BPA-free". Just don't touch that receipt printed at the point-of-sale terminal. Brands that sell directly to consumers are more likely to go BPA-free than those who supply food-service companies like Sysco or Aramark. So buying from the grocery store is more predictable than eating at a contractor-run eatery. It's way too much cognitive overhead for a typical person, though. This is a job for a cartel enforcer. So either a privately-run food-safety testing union that controls an independent trademark, licensed to those who pass the tests--like UL is for electrified appliances--or the heavy hand of government.
  - sizzle 7y ago
    Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Regarding "BPA free" products, aren't they using some other synthetic BPA chemicals that have unstudied health risks, simply to be able to claim they are "BPA free"?
magduf 7y ago
>Food microwaved in borosilicate glass food containers is unlikely to pick up plasticizers. Just make sure you don't use Pyrex if you want to use borosilicate glass. Unless it's decades old, Pyrex isn't borosilicate any more, even though they charge prices as if they were. It's a total rip-off. To get borosilicate these days, it seems you have to buy it from China.

sizzle 7y ago

How do you minimize exposure to nasty compounds in canned or packaged foods from typical convenient shopping stores like Costco, trader Joe's, etc other than growing everything yourself?

logfromblammo 7y ago
Yes, an excellent question. I suppose you have to lobby your legislators to pass food safety laws that prohibit polymers and epoxies based on bisphenol-A to be in contact with foods or beverages, specifically, and generally any other substances proven to leach endocrine disruptors into food or beverage under typical handling and storage conditions. Some food and beverage companies have identified this as a problem and are attempting to fix it in their own supply, but the majority of canned foods still have BPA-epoxy can linings, and most foods with a cardboard outer packaging also have a plastic inner packaging. Then there are the foods directly packaged in plastic containers. PET (1), HDPE (2), LDPE (4), and PP (5) are probably safe over the timespan you will be using them, but PVC (3), PC (7), and PS (6) may leach plasticizers into your consumables that mimic or interfere with the natural signaling chemicals in your body. The recycling symbol is no guarantee. Organic chemistry can produce a lot of different chemicals in very common environmental conditions; that's why life is based on it in the first place. You can still do things to a "safe" plastic to produce unwanted reaction products. If you buy foods in glass, silicone (polysiloxane), or stainless steel, you're probably okay. Ceramics and stoneware might leach heavy metal ions, but you're probably safe from any unwanted organic molecules. Brands that find this to be important will probably advertise as "BPA-free". Just don't touch that receipt printed at the point-of-sale terminal. Brands that sell directly to consumers are more likely to go BPA-free than those who supply food-service companies like Sysco or Aramark. So buying from the grocery store is more predictable than eating at a contractor-run eatery. It's way too much cognitive overhead for a typical person, though. This is a job for a cartel enforcer. So either a privately-run food-safety testing union that controls an independent trademark, licensed to those who pass the tests--like UL is for electrified appliances--or the heavy hand of government.
- sizzle 7y ago
  Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Regarding "BPA free" products, aren't they using some other synthetic BPA chemicals that have unstudied health risks, simply to be able to claim they are "BPA free"?

magduf 7y ago

>Food microwaved in borosilicate glass food containers is unlikely to pick up plasticizers. Just make sure you don't use Pyrex if you want to use borosilicate glass. Unless it's decades old, Pyrex isn't borosilicate any more, even though they charge prices as if they were. It's a total rip-off. To get borosilicate these days, it seems you have to buy it from China.