Important to note there's a big difference in leeching between hot and cold items being put into contact with plastics.

Fair. There are also differences that come from length of exposure, though?

I don't want to start doomerism. I was just somewhat personally surprised at how many things have plastic linings. I do want companies testing, but I don't think it is good for mental health to get alarmed at all possibilities.

Most canned foods are heated as part of the canning process, aren't they? There are a handful of things that intentionally contain live cultures -- yogurts, some sauerkrauts & similar -- but otherwise I'd expect almost any canned food to have been packed hot or heated in the container during canning in order to kill food-spoiling organisms.

The only thing CR found without these chemicals was a can of seltzer.

nope, phthalate-free cans have been a selling point for a while now. standard for canned beans at Sprouts or Whole Foods

Ok, I'll amend by changing to "majority". :D

I'm curious what the implication in not having a lining is. If it isn't needed, why have it on the other cans? I'm assuming it has a decreased shelf life?

Edit: I'm a little confused on the reading real quick. I am seeing that most cans are now BPA free, but it seems they are still lined with a plastic?

"BPA free" = we changed ~one chemical to avoid the disclosure requirement != it's totally safe.

The metal in cans would react with certain foods or chemicals in food in often far worse ways than anything the plastic will do. There's likely no packaging material that wouldn't make any impact on its contents.

Right. This was my understanding going into this. I was surprised to hear that there were unlined cans. I'm less surprised to hear we have BPA free packaging.

> no packaging material that wouldn't make any impact on its contents.

We solved this many decades ago with a cheap, safe, abundant, recyclable material: glass.

Centralized factories and the associated transport and breakage costs ruined it.

I feel unreasonable about it, but this is exactly why I only buy glassed drinks when I can. Luckily, I should drink less anyway.

The Whole Foods cans are still plastic coated, they just market the fact that the coating is BPA free. Epoxy has historically been the predominant coating for canned food and drink products, which does contain BPA. Polyolefin dispersion coatings have been available for several years and are now widely used in jurisdictions that restrict BPA in food manufacturing; they are expected to become industry-standard within the next few years due to increasingly strict regulations.

To the best of my knowledge, all can coatings are phthalate free. I should also note that not all phthalates are created equal - terephthalates and trimellitates are of considerably less concern than ortho-phthalates.