Beware those innocent-looking green beans and that mom-approved chicken noodle soup! Turns out not only plastic but canned goods—because of the coating used to protect food from corrosion and bacteria—contain disturbing levels of bisphenol A, a known carcinogen. A National Workgroup for Safe Markets test of 50 cans of fruit, vegetables, soup, beans, sodas, and milk from pantries all over the country found five times as much BPA as a similar FDA test in 1997, reports Fast Company. The chemical was present in 92% of the cans, tested by an FDA-approved lab, and the level of BPA didn't reflect age or price of the product.
"It takes as little as one serving of canned foods to expose a person to levels of BPA that have been shown to cause harm in laboratory animals," one of the co-authors of the study tells AOL News, warning that it's especially dangerous for pregnant women, "because fetuses are especially vulnerable to BPA's effects."
(More BPA stories.)