>I wonder if the heat treatment process used to can any low acid food (pH >above 4.5) denatures the oil. My guess is that it does denature the oil. >Isn't the aluminum protected with a plastic liner? I'm more concerned with >the plastic liner leaching into the food during the heat treatment (used to >kill the spores of clostridium botulinum). These plastics are believed to >be hormone disrupters/mimickers. > >Rob You can get enamel-lined cans. Still, they use lead compunds in the solder (if the can is round with a seam). The big problem with any soft plastic is the pthalates used to make the plastic soft, which allow chemicals like vinyl (which contains lead) to leach out of the plastic. PVC is one of the most toxic plastics. It's recycle code is 3. You should never let PVC come into contact with food, especially hot food. At my local sushi bar, they pack the 8-pc sushi in PVC containers! They justfy this by saying the sushi is cold, so it's safe. By the way, PVC cannot be recycled and doesn't biodegrade. It leaches so much lead into the landfills that some districts won't put it in their landfills. Bad stuff. Stacie _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com