Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Health Advocates Across the Country Call On Kroger and Albertsons to Ban Toxic BPA in Food Packaging
100,000+ People Signed Petitions Calling On Grocery Retailers to Ban BPA & Adopt Comprehensive Chemical Policies
(Washington, DC) Today, concerned parents and health advocates from eleven states – Alaska, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, and Washington – as well as Washington D.C. joined a national movement to urge the nation’s two largest grocery chains, Kroger and Albertsons, to stop selling canned foods lined with bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that has been linked to breast and prostate cancer, infertility, type 2 diabetes, obesity, asthma, and attention deficit disorder. The advocates demanded the companies commit to a policy to eliminate BPA, use safe substitutes for the toxic chemical in canned food linings, and adopt comprehensive chemical policies.
Advocates held protests outside grocery stores, returned canned foods whose linings tested positive for BPA in grocery bags labeled “Can Toxic BPA,” delivered letters to store managers, and distributed flyers to customers. The national “day of action” was coordinated by the Mind the Store campaign, a project of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Today’s events follow a recent protest outside Kroger’s corporate headquarters and are in advance of Kroger’s annual shareholder meeting, scheduled for Thursday in Cincinnati.
Mike Schade, Mind the Store Campaign Director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, said: “The nation’s biggest grocery chains, Kroger and Albertsons, have the power and a moral responsibility to get toxic chemicals like BPA out of canned foods.” He continued, “It’s the right thing to do for our families.”
A recent report, “Buyer Beware,” found toxic BPA in 67% of food cans tested nationwide. BPA was found in private-label canned goods tested at the two biggest dedicated grocery retailers in the United States: Kroger and Albertsons. In private-label cans, 62 percent of the Kroger products sampled (13 out of 21), and 50 percent of the Albertsons products sampled (eight out of 16 from Albertsons, Randalls, Safeway) tested positive for BPA-based epoxy resins. BPA was found in the linings of cans containing green beans and other vegetables, beans, soups, tomatoes, and milk.
Since the report release, more than100,000 people across the country have signed petitions through Care2, SumOfUs, and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families calling on grocery retailers to ban toxic BPA and replace it with safer substitutes. Last month, advocates with Ohio Citizen Action held a protest outside Kroger’s corporate headquarters in downtown Cincinnati.
In late May, the Mind the Store campaign sent letters to the CEOs of both Kroger and Albertsons, calling on the retailers to act:
- Letter to Kroger: http://bit.ly/KrogerLetter
- Letter to Albertsons: http://bit.ly/AlbertsonsLetter
The action comes after a recent food industry report found more than a third of consumers participating in an annual survey rated chemicals in food as their most important food safety issue.
The Mind the Store campaign is challenging major U.S. retailers to adopt policies to identify, restrict, and safely substitute the Hazardous 100+ chemicals in common consumer products.
