Background

Beginning in 1985, North American steel producers witnessed tinplate sales – the steel used to produce food cans – level off and, in some cases, decline. Further, tinplate sales were predicted to decline 3 percent per year. Given both these real and projected declines, the steel industry concluded that the only way to grow tinplate sales would be to target end-users – North American canned food consumers. In 1994, the American Iron and Steel Institute’s Steel Packaging Council defined a strategy and implemented a program to respond to the competitive market issues facing steel food cans. The strategy established a basic priority: to strengthen consumer acceptance of canned food.

CFA Today

The consumer awareness program has evolved into a multi-industry program managed under the auspices of the Canned Food Alliance (CFA). The CFA is a partnership of the American Iron and Steel Institute’s Steel Packaging Council, the Can Manufacturers Institute and 13 food processors. The primary mission of the CFA is to serve as a resource for information on the nutritional value and contemporary appeal of canned food, more than 90 percent of which is packaged in recyclable steel cans.

CFA Program Goals

It is the CFA’s goal to positively influence consumers’ perceptions about the nutritional value of canned food utilizing the results of multiple university nutrition studies as the foundation of the program. In addition, the CFA works with

Research

The CFA has commissioned nutrition research with the following universities:

University of Illinois
University of Massachusetts
University of Oregon
University of California – Davis
Rutgers University