tins, then and now?

[vassili]

Read a couple of places now about tins "back then" where heavily tinned, that's why the food was still edible thirty or whatever years later. But tins now supposedly only have a thin layer of plastic inside them, and therefore the contents will have a drastically shorter shelf life. Urban myth?

[scruffypaul]

Read a couple of places now about tins "back then" where heavily tinned, that's why the food was still edible thirty or whatever years later. But tins now supposedly only have a thin layer of plastic inside them, and therefore the contents will have a drastically shorter shelf life. Urban myth?

Most food tins now are steel or aluminium with a plastic liner, rather than plated with tin. The older, victorian tins were very corrosion-resistant but also were sealed with lead solder so there was a risk of lead poisoning if you ate too much tinned food. With the modern cans, if the liner is intact (i.e. the can is not dented or damaged) then the contents are just as well sealed against the outside as if in an old-style tin can. The concern some people have about plastic liners to tins nowadays is related to the chemicals in the plastic leaching into the food, rather than any effect on shelf life. It's mainly BPA that people are worried about, with concerns that it may be linked to developmental abnormalities and infertility. Personally I am not that worried about it and would say starving and/or malnutrition from not enough food is worse than a low sperm count.