The Ingredients Nobody Explains to You.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is an industrial chemical commonly used in epoxy resins that line many food cans. That lining helps prevent corrosion and keeps canned foods shelf-stable, but BPA can migrate from the lining into food, especially in acidic or high-heat processing.
Commonly shows up in canned foods, including:
Canned beans (black beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, baked beans)
Canned tomatoes + tomato sauces
Canned soups, broths, chili
Canned fish (tuna, salmon)
Some canned coconut milk
Thermal receipt paper (absorbed through skin, and almost nobody counts it)
Canned vegetables and canned fruit
Canned pet food
Metal bottle caps and jar lids
Older hard polycarbonate bottles and food containers
Water cooler jugs
Look for these “cleaner” packaging moves:
“BPA-free can lining” (still check what they replaced it with)
Glass jars (beans, sauces, soups)
Cartons (some beans/broths come in Tetra Pak-style cartons)
Dry beans (bulk or bagged) + cook at home (cheapest + cleanest)
The European Union prohibited it outright. Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/3190 of 19 December 2024, Article 3(1): “The use of BPA and its salts in the manufacture of food contact materials and articles referred to in Article 1(2) and the placing on the Union market of food contact materials and articles manufactured using BPA, is prohibited.” It covers adhesives, rubbers, ion-exchange resins, plastics, printing inks, silicones, and varnishes and coatings, which is the group that includes can linings. Narrow exemptions sit in Annex II and the ban phases in over staged transition periods.
That regulation replaced Regulation (EU) 2018/213, which had set a migration limit rather than a prohibition. The direction of travel in the EU has been one way: a limit, then a ban.
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