Bisphenol A is found in cans that contain many popular foods, including tomato paste and soup, but one company has been using BPA-free cans for almost a decade.

Eden Foods, a natural and organic food company based in Michigan, sells most of its canned food, except the highly acidic tomato products, in BPA-free cans.

For now, the company is keeping its tomato products in cans with BPA because their shelf life would be drastically reduced without the chemical. The company's juices are sold in glass bottles.

"We badgered our canned suppliers to come up with an alternative and one of them said they would accommodate us with a bisphenol A-free lining," said Eden Foods President Michael Potter.

"They ended up with all our business. I did it because I didn't want to be in the loop of providing this contaminant, this toxin, to my children."

Potter said most canned-good manufacturers should have no trouble following his company's lead, given that a 15-ounce BPA-free can costs only 2.2 cents more.

BPA is found in everyday items, including stereo equipment, some car parts, hard plastic food containers and beverage containers and the linings of food cans.

During the manufacturing process, food is put into cans and then heated at high temperatures to kill bacteria. Scientists say that this is when BPA can leach out of the lining and into food.

A joint study conducted by CTV News and The Globe and Mail showed that trace amounts of BPA can be found in cans that contain popular foods such as soup and vegetables.

While baby bottles leach about 6 parts per billion of BPA, the exclusive tests of food cans showed:

• A can of children's ravioli leached 6 parts per billion.
• A can of peas and carrots leached 7 parts per billion.
• A can of tomato juice leached 14 parts per billion.

Full story: New tests find BPA in kids' food containers

The study was conducted after Health Canada announced it would move to ban BPA from plastic baby bottles and the linings of cans of infant formula.

While the Canadian government feels that levels of BPA that most adults are exposed to are safe, the concern is that the chemical can interfere with a child's development.

However, the federal government is interested in these new results.

"We will look at the results of the testing that CTV and The Globe and Mail reported recently," Health Canada's Samuel Godefroy said Thursday on CTV Newsnet.

BPA mimics the effect of estrogen in the body. In animal studies, small amounts of the chemical, as little as 25 parts per billion, have been linked to conditions such as early puberty and cancer.

Monique Fabregas, founder of healthy living advocacy group Greenmom, has a five-year-old daughter and is pregnant with twins. She took all canned goods out of her pantry. Foods that she can't eat fresh or dried she buys in jars.

"I didn't want to take a risk and it is a risk that is easy to avoid," Fabregas said.

From a report by CTV's medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip.