Help Me Find BPA-Free Canned Tomatoes! Good Questions

Q: With all the news about BPA, I've been trying to eliminate it from my diet. This hasn't been a problem except for one thing: canned tomatoes. Is there another way I can prepare tomatoes for pasta sauces, etc., that would be a good substitute? Could I make my own? Or are there any brands of canned tomatoes that come in glass?

Thanks for any suggestions you have. I miss my favorite pasta sauce!

Sent by Lucy

Editor: Here are a couple of past posts to catch you up on the BPA (Bisphenol A), a chemical found in some plastics and other food packaging.

• Food News: The Latest on BPA
• Ways to Reduce Your Exposure to BPA

It is possible to find preserved tomatoes that are packaged free of BPA. Here's a roundup of BPA-free tomatoes at one blog:

• jarred preserved tomatoes.

Ultimately, the most reliable way to have tasty tomatoes for the winter and spring is to preserve them yourself. You can buy them in bulk at the farmers market and can them, or else blanch them and freeze them. You can also make big vats of sauce and freeze those. We also love Margaret Roach instructions for "tomato junk", which she freezes in bulk each fall.

Next question?

(Image: Lucini Italia)

Comments (15)

The most commonly available canning jar lids contain BPA. You can get European jars that do not have it:
http://www.weckcanning.com/

Pomi tomato sauce by Parmalat comes in cartons (like those used for soy milk). I'm not sure if it is BPA free, but it isn't in a can or a plastic bottle.

Great - another thing to worry about. I am so sick of being Sherlock Holmes with food. I try to eat as much fresh as possible, but with packaged foods it means label-reading endlessly. Science was my worst subject in school but I do love to cook, and I do want to be healthy obviously.
How much is too much?

Pomi is indeed BPA free. They're a good alternative to canned tomatoes.

http://operagirlcooks.com

Tomatoes are one of the MOST important foods to keep away from BPA containers, the acid deteriorates the lining faster-
"Tomatoes are quite acidic, and that breaks down the vegetable-based liner, she and Ginsberg say. For tomato lovers who are concerned about BPA, the two say that the best option is to look for tomato products in glass jars, such as those made by Bionaturae, or in aseptic packaging, such as Pomi brand."

source- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/03/AR2009020300535.html

Think I might just try preserving my own this year :\

Glad you're on the hunt for BPA-free ones. In addition to Lucini, Bionaturae has a great tomato-in-a-jar. We wrote some on other BPA-free products: http://www.zomppa.com/2010/01/24/canned-good/

My grandmother (1st Gen Italian American) uses strained tomatoes for her sauce when she isn't using her own garden tomatoes. When she gave my wife the recipe, we looked or BPA free tomatoes and, so far, have only found some from Bionaturae. You can see their full line of tomato products here: http://www.bionaturae.com/tomato.html

Some of them are canned but we use the 24oz jar. We find the taste to be better than Pomi - which is what a lot of people I know use.

Trust me when I say the Bionaturae strained tomatoes produce a very flavorful sauce. Coming from my grandmother's Italian heritage (and great cooking) I'm picky about my sauce and the 24oz jar will be a perfect organic & BPA free resource for all your sauce needs.

thanks for posting the info, roseinthecity! Muir Glenn are my go-to canned tomatoes.

Eden Organic has BPA-free cans for beans (and has paid extra for them) for more than 11 years.

However, they say they cannot do the same with tomatoes because the FDA has not yet approved any BPA-free food can plastic linings for use with tomatoes.

https://www.edenfoods.com/articles/view.php?articles_id=178

That makes me wonder about Muir Glen's claim, because Eden Foods has been trying to get a safe way to do that for many years. I would suspect that either it's extremely new, or it's got something else unsavory instead of BPA in it.

@ValHalla, unless you're storing your tomato jars upside down, I would skip the Weck jars and stay with the normal ones. They're a lot safer for canning and, personally, I'd rather risk whatever BPA does than the things that botullism and its ilk do.

Besides the Tomato Junk (glad you like, Faith) I also make 30 containers of red sauce each year, and freeze it.

I can't remember the last time (15 years ago? longer?) I bought canned tomatoes or jarred sauce.

Other than applesauce, it's the thing I make the most of each harvest season (and enjoy year-round). The proof is what my freezer looks like. Careful or something will hit you in the foot!

Like someone else pointed out, if you're canning your tomatoes properly, they won't be in contact with the BPA lined lid. (unless you do the upside down cool and pop method, and even then it's not for that long)
Pomi boxes are wax lined and like soy milk boxes, are not recyclable. They also travel a distance to get to you.

I have to say, when looking at the big picture, I think the lids in canning jars are over the line I'm going to care about.

Trader Joe's makes the Italian Sauce starter sauce (tomatoes, and I think something like garlic and onion and a few spices) in a carton that is made by Tetrapac and is confirmed BPA-free (http://thesoftlandingbaby.com/2010/01/14/bpa-free-tomatoes-do-exist/). It's a nice starter for pasta sauce, soups, chili, etc.

Thanks Tiamet, I am in total agreement with you, as well as lorigami--not that I discount the scariness of BPA, but there is only so much we can do.