WEBVTT - Is Canned Food Really Worse Than Fresh or Frozen? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.520 Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:10.320 brain Stuff, Lauren Vogle Bam. Here, Let's face it, some 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.640 canned vegetables are so very different from their fresh forms, 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.320 think asparagus, that plenty of kids grow up swearing off 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:21.120 otherwise delicious foods forever. So it's no surprise that canned 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:24.960 foods have a bad rap. But the bad reputation goes 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:28.360 beyond just the food that comes inside those cans. It's 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:30.600 also because of things like the growth of farmers markets 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.680 in the last twenty years, and influencers like California's Alice 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.560 Waters and Michael Pollen who have encouraged eating locally raised 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:40.320 fresh foods over processed foods, and bp A linings and 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:43.479 scary accounts of the dangers of dented cans told by 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:50.320 well meaning grandparents. So is that bad reputation deserved? First, 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:53.040 Let's back up and talk about canning foods as a whole. 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.640 Canning was born out of a search for convenience and efficiency. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.960 A French candy maker and chef Nicholas A. Pear develop 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.160 to the process. At the end of the eighteenth century, 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.080 Napoleon was offering a huge prize to anyone who could 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.559 help him feed his troops. A pair's original process isn't 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:11.800 very different from the canning methods used today. A pair 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.679 put food in bottles and jars, covered them with cork 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:18.319 and wax, and processed the jars in boiling water. The 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:20.920 French government paid a pair to make his process public, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.560 and that led to the first recipe book on canning. 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.440 The Pair's process spread quickly. Not twenty years later, the 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.520 British Navy fed soldiers the first meat, soups and vegetables 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:34.360 that were canned in tin instead of jars. During World 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.959 War Two, governments in a number of countries, including the 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.039 U S and the UK, promoted home canning. The U 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.000 S printed and distributed circulars and opened thousands of canning 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.679 centers to help home cooks preserve food grown in home gardens. 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:53.600 Canning became patriotic, supplementing bland and sometimes inadequate rations. In 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.920 the nineteen fifties, commercially canned and other packaged foods were 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:01.600 introduced as nutritious, time saving, modern convenient. A popular book, 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:05.040 the can Opener cookbook Buy Food, editor Poppy Cannon promised 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:07.680 readers they could open some cans and create a gourmet 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:11.079 meal without really knowing how to cook. The recipes included 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.440 roast canned chicken flombay with black cherries made with a 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:17.960 whole canned chicken. Another meal was made of canned hamburger 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.760 patties covered with fried onions and red wine, baked in 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:24.919 a castrole dish for twenty minutes. Canned food was promoted 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:28.919 and seen as better than fresh, especially as industrial agriculture 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:33.280 began to incorporate more modern fertilizers and technologies. The author 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:35.760 of the can Opener cookbook wrote the flavor of fresh 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.639 tomatoes was bad and that for real tomato flavor, you 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:43.119 should open a can. Fifty is years later, canned tomatoes 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.800 are still an off season go to for tomato lovers 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.480 and cooks, and I certainly can't deny the convenience of 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.560 a can of beans already cooked and ready to go 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:53.440 into a salad, soup, dip, or whatever other dish, no 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:58.240 long soaking or par boiling required. From a nutrition standpoint, 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.360 the canning process today is designed preserve as many nutrients 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.320 as possible. Fruits and vegetables for canning are picked at 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.680 the peak of their ripeness, as opposed to some produce 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.440 picked for fresh sale, which may be underripe to prevent 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.600 spoilage during transport from farmed store. Crops destined for canning 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.280 are grown close to packing facilities and can be processed 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:20.480 within four hours of harvest. The heat used during canning 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.240 does decrease some of the water soluble vitamins in the 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:27.400 finished food, like vitamins B and C, and often salt 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:30.720 and sugar are added during the process. Experts suggest rinsing 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.040 canned food to reduce some of the added sugar and salt, 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.640 or buying low salt and low sugar products. And of 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:40.040 course that heat also changes the texture of vegetables, regrettably 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.120 so in the case of those canned asparagus. But that 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.360 heat is a plus when it comes to food safety. 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.600 The heat introduces pressure that helps seal the cans, but 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.440 it can also kill or deactivate deadly germs. Remember when 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.840 we mentioned our grandparents aversions to dented or swollen cans. 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:00.000 Those fears are based in reality. Let's talk about my face. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.720 Its scary condition botuli um. It's caused by a bacterial 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.200 toxin so deadly that just a million of a graham 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:09.560 is enough to kill the United States and other countries 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.880 even explored botulism as a biological weapon during World War Two. 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:18.120 The bacteria that crete this toxin, clostradian batu linum, are everywhere, 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.040 but people associate bauchuli ism with canned foods because the 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:25.480 bacteria only reproduce in low oxygen environments like a poorly 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.920 processed can. Today, commercial canned foods go through what's called 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:32.680 a bochu linum cook. This is a high heat cook 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:35.719 that dramatically lowers the chance that any Clustradiu bauchua linum 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.320 spores or other organisms that can cause food born illness survive. 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:42.799 For the record, you should discard any can that's puffed 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.200 out or swollen that's caused by germs reproducing inside of it, 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:49.160 and it is bad news. Cans that are dented are 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.799 usually fine, as long as the dent is not along 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:56.520 the cans scenes. The most recent concern about canned foods, though, 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.520 isn't the food at all. It's the cans themselves and 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:03.280 what they're lined with, including b p A. Over the 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.160 past two decades, public attention has focused on bp A, 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.920 the compound used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:13.320 In two thousand and eight, the US government's National Toxicology 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.240 Program concluded that there was concern about its effects on 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:20.359 the brains, behavior, and prostate glands of fetuses, infants, and children. 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:25.320 Other studies have linked BPA to cardiovascular disease, obesity, asthma, 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:30.360 and diabetes. B p A exposure is widespread. The Centers 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:33.120 for Disease Control found b p A and of the 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:35.719 urine samples of more than twenty five thousand people aged 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.839 six and older. B p A can leach from containers, 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:42.120 including cans, into foods and drinks, and so plastics and 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:47.080 canning manufacturers have worked to develop replacement materials. The Canned 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.800 Manufacturers Institute says more than of food cans today are 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:54.920 lined with new b p A free materials such as polyesters, acrylics, 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:59.720 and PVC. Though note that that figure just refers to 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:03.160 food cans. It doesn't include canned drinks or bottle caps. 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:07.400 And although replacing a known concern is great, the safety 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:11.039 of some of those substitutes is still being researched. We 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:14.160 spoke of Sarah Geller, a senior research and database analyst 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:17.440 at the Environmental Working Group. She said, we don't have 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:19.680 a lot of data about how these materials are used 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:23.080 because the formulas are protected by trade secrets, and even 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.520 though cans with newer linings can help you avoid endocrine disruptors, 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.200 they may not be good for the environment. Some materials 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.880 don't degrade. If you're concerned about contamination from canned foods, 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.560 Geller recommends using fresh, frozen, or dried food instead of canned, 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:40.400 But if you simply can't get away from the convenience 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:45.039 of canned foods, absolutely don't eat the food in the can. Finally, 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.039 be aware that some compounds, including b p A, have 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.320 become such pervasive contaminants in the environment that it's getting 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.760 harder to avoid. No matter what your food is packaged in, 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.080 Geller said, detectable amounts of b p A may make 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:00.120 it into otherwise b p A free cans from other sources, 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:05.400 including the food itself. To end on a slightly lighter note, 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.200 even though food was first canned in metal cans around 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.080 eighteen thirteen, it took about forty years for someone to 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.400 invent a can opener, and can openers for home use 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.280 didn't become popular until the eighteen sixties. Before then, you'd 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:26.080 break out the hammer and chisel. Today's episode was written 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.760 by Sean Chavis and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:30.760 is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:32.560 For more on this and lots of other topics that 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:34.480 we put in the can just for you, visit our 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:36.920 home planet, how stuff Works dot com and from our 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.320 podcast From my heart radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:41.920 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.