Drinking Water and Tin Cans

Most recent answer: 10/22/2007

Q:
Is it OK to freeze water in tin(Coffee) cans? They are used to cool down drinking water.
- Sheree
Long Island, NY
A:
Sheree -

Yes, in general, it is okay to drink water from ’tin’ cans. ’Tin’ cans are actually made mostly of steel, with only a thin layer of tin on the surface. And tin does not react with plain water. (It can react with certain acids and bases, though, so you should be careful if storing that sort of things in cans.) Also, the small amount of tin that does get into your drinking water is not likely to be toxic. According to the , tin is generally completely non-toxic. Only extremely high levels of tin or some organic tin compounds (not the kind you get from tin cans) can make you sick. It will probably make your water taste metalic, though, so unless you like the taste of hard water, you may still not want to drink it.

-Tamara

(published on 10/22/2007)