The Canning of Fish and Meat

Canning as a preservation process has proved its value in its contribution to the preservation, distribution, and storage of world food supplies, and is a traditional way of preserving fish and meat. With increasing concern for the environment, it has much to offer with its use of readily recyclable container materials and product stability at ambient conditions, as well as long life. For some foods, such as fish and meat, the character of the canned product has become an accepted and sought after quality by the consumer but for other foods, other methods of preservation have delivered a 'fresher' character. However, there is a growing realisation that these other methods of preservation of foods carry critical control requirements through the whole distribution chain, which, considered together with environmental implica­ tions of energy usage and packaging recycling potential, has led to a resurgence of interest in canning. Increasingly, in the major markets, legislative control of fish canning is following (and extending) the style previously only applied to canned meat, with enormous implications for fish canneries worldwide.

1 Raw material sourcing.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Supply of fish.- 1.3 Finding fish.- 1.4 Catching fish.- 1.4.1 Surrounding nets.- 1.4.2 Towed nets.- 1.4.3 Static nets.- 1.4.4 Line and hook.- 1.5 By-catch.- 1.6 On-board handling of fish.- 1.6.1 Size of fish.- 1.6.2 Metabolic rate.- 1.6.3 Catching practice.- 1.6.4 Handling fish.- 1.7 Quality retention.- 1.7.1 Cooling with ice.- 1.7.2 Boxing in ice.- 1.7.3 Ice-chilled sea water (CSW).- 1.7.4 Refrigerated sea water (RSW).- 1.7.5 Freezing.- 1.8 Fishfarming.- 1.9 Conclusions.- References.- 2 Fish raw material.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Transportation.- 2.2.1 Spoilage factors.- 2.2.2 Protection in transportation.- 2.3 Reception and testing.- 2.4 Storage.- 2.5 Defrosting frozen fish.- 2.5.1 Air thawing.- 2.5.2 Air blast thawing.- 2.5.3 Water thawing.- 2.5.4 Vacuum thawing.- 2.5.5 Other methods of thawing.- 2.6 Fish preparation.- 2.6.1 Heading.- 2.6.2 Filleting.- 2.6.3 Skinning.- 2.6.4 Smoking.- 2.6.5 Pre-cooking.- 2.7 Storing prepared fish.- 2.8 Chemical indicators of quality.- References and Bibliography.- Appendix: Sources of machinery.- 3 Meat raw materials.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Specifications and quality assurance.- 3.3 Sampling procedures.- 3.4 Identity of meat.- 3.4.1 Species.- 3.4.2 Age and sex.- 3.4.3 Other factors.- 3.4.4 Chemical composition.- 3.5 Manufacturing quality factors.- 3.5.1 Functionality of meat proteins.- 3.5.2 Curing of meat products with nitrite.- 3.5.3 The importance of meat pH.- 3.5.4 pH changes in meat after slaughter.- 3.5.5 Chilling and freezing.- 3.5.6 Transport and delivery.- 3.6 Physical condition of meat.- 3.7 Microbiology of meat raw materials.- 3.7.1 Spoilage bacteria.- 3.7.2 Food-poisoning bacteria.- 3.8 Summary.- References.- 4 Canning factory standards.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Factory environment.- 4.2.1 Location and surroundings.- 4.2.2 Vehicles and roadways.- 4.3 Factory structure.- 4.3.1 External walls.- 4.3.2 Access ways.- 4.3.3 Pest-proofing.- 4.4 Production area.- 4.4.1 Internal walls.- 4.4.2 Floors.- 4.4.3 Ceilings.- 4.4.4 Lighting.- 4.4.5 Ventilation.- 4.5 Factory layout.- 4.5.1 Separation of processes.- 4.5.2 Separation of personnel.- 4.6 Services.- 4.6.1 General water supply.- 4.6.2 Water for cooling purposes.- 4.6.3 General steam supply.- 4.6.4 Potable steam supply.- 4.6.5 Other services.- 4.6.6 Effluent.- 4.7 Personal hygiene.- 4.7.1 Health control.- 4.7.2 Protective clothing.- 4.7.3 Sanitary accommodation.- 4.7.4 Staff amenities.- 4.8 Equipment.- 4.8.1 Hygienic design.- 4.8.2 Installation.- Further reading.- 5 Cans and lids.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Metals used in can manufacture.- 5.2.1 Stec!.- 5.2.2 Tin-free steels (TFS) and blackplate.- 5.2.3 Aluminium.- 5.2.4 Mechanical properties.- 5.3 Methods of container manufacture.- 5.3.1 Three-piece can manufacture.- 5.3.2 Two-piece can manufacture.- 5.3.3 Can ends.- 5.4 Selection of a can-making route.- 5.4.1 Product(s) to be packed.- 5.4.2 Size of the market and the manufacturing unit.- 5.5 Mechanical properties of containers and ends.- 5.5.1 General.- 5.5.2 Axial strength.- 5.5.3 Panelling resistance.- 5.5.4 Peaking resistance.- 5.5.5 Measurement of mechanical properties.- 5.5.6 Secondary processes.- 5.6 Coatings.- 5.6.1 General classification.- 5.6.2 Protective internal coatings.- 5.7 Functions of can lacquers/enamels.- 5.7.1 Internal corrosion protection.- 5.7.2 Protection of the product.- 5.7.3 Facilitating manufacture.- 5.7.4 Base for dccoration.- 5.7.5 External corrosion and abrasion resistance.- 5.8 Methods of lacquer application.- 5.8.1 Roller coating in sheet form.- 5.8.2 Coil coating.- 5.8.3 Spraying.- 5.8.4 Electrocoating.- 5.9 Container corrosion; theory and practice.- 5.9.1 External corrosion.- 5.9.2 Internal corrosion.- 5.9.3 Theory 130 5.9.10 Recycling.- 5.10.1 Technical factors.- 5.10.2 Economics.- 6 Filling operations.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Hand filling.- 6.2.1 Meat products.- 6.2.2 Fish products.- 6.3 Mechanical filling - general considerations.- 6.4 Meat filling.- 6.5 Fish filling.- 6.6 Liquid fillers.- 6.7 Fillers for fish and meat products in sauce.- 6.8 Operational safety.- 6.9 Control of the filling operation.- Acknowledgement.- Manufacturers of filling machines.- 7 Can seaming.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Can seaming.- 7.2.1 Double seamers.- 7.2.2 Irregular seamers.- 7.2.3 Round can seamers.- 7.2.4 Irregular can seaming.- 7.2.5 Round can seaming.- 7.3 Double seam acceptability.- 7.3.1 Double seam appraisal.- 7.3.2 Dimensional setting and control of double seamers.- 7.4 Target setting.- 7.5 Seamer maintenance procedures.- 7.6 Double seaming technology developments 171 Glossary of terms and definitions.- 8 Heat treatment.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Aims of the retorting process and commercial sterility.- 8.3 The requirements for a retorting system.- 8.3.1 Pressure vessel.- 8.3.2 Can location.- 8.3.3 Heat transfer medium.- 8.3.4 Control system.- 8.3.5 Venting and condensate removal.- 8.3.6 Rotation.- 8.4 The classification and selection of sterilising systems.- 8.4.1 Manufacturing output.- 8.4.2 Available factory spacc.- 8.4.3 Requirement for rotation.- 8.4.4 Overpressure.- 8.4.5 Factory location.- 8.5 Batch retorts.- 8.5.1 Steam retorts.- 8.5.2 Steam-air retorts.- 8.5.3 Full immersion water retorts.- 8.5.4 Showered water retorts.- 8.6 Continuous sterilisers.- 8.6.1 Fundamental considerations.- 8.6.2 Hydrostatic cookers.- 8.6.3 Reel and spiral cooker/coolers.- 8.7 Instrumentation and control of sterilising systems.- 8.7.1 Temperature.- 8.7.2 Time.- 8.7.3 Pressure.- 8.7.4 Rotation speed/batch retorts.- 8.7.5 Continuous steriliser speeds.- 8.7.6 Water level.- 8.7.7 Water flow rate.- 8.7.8 Instrumentation.- 8.7.9 Temperature measurement - the master temperature indicator (MTI).- 8.7.10 Mercury-in-glass thermometers.- 8.7.11 Platinum resistance thermometers (PRTs).- 8.7.12 Temperature - recorder controller.- 8.7.13 Pressure measurement.- 8.7.14 Control systems.- 8.8 Establishment of thermal process.- 8.8.1 The scheduled process.- 8.8.2 Special considerations for canned cured meats.- 8.8.3 Thermal process verification.- 8.8.4 Temperature distribution tests.- 8.8.5 Thermal process evaluation.- 8.8.6 Calculation methods.- 8.9 Procedures and records.- 8.10 Retort operation.- 8.11 Process audit reconciliation.- Suggested further reading.- Principal European suppliers of retorts and sterilisers.- 9 Warehousing and distribution.- 9.1 Recent trends.- 9.2 The storage problem.- 9.3 Brightstacking.- 9.4 Block-stacking.- 9.5 Semi-automated warehouse systems.- 9.6 Despatch.- 9.7 Pallets versus hand stow versus slipsheets.- 9.8 Electronic data interchange.- 9.9 Stock control.- 9.10 Third-party contracts.- 9.11 Performance measurement.- 9.12 Imports.- 9.13 Distribution and shipping.- 9.13.1 Road haulage.- 9.13.2 Containers.- 10 Laboratory services.- 10.1 Laboratory facilities.- 10.1.1 Location of laboratories.- 10.1.2 Laboratory design.- 10.1.3 Technicians and procedures.- 10.1.4 Sampling plans.- 10.2 Analytical testing.- 10.3 Microbiological testing.- 10.4 Analyses recommended for cannery water and retort cooling water.- 10.5 Swab testing.- 10.6 Incubation tests.- 10.7 Sterility testing.- 10.7.1 Examination of containers.- 10.7.2 Cleaning the container.- 10.7.3 Opening the container.- 10.7.4 Inoculation.- 10.7.5 Interpretation of results.- 10.8 Types of spoilage.- 10.9 Consumer illness complaints.- 10.10 Botulism.- 10.11 Staphylococcal poisoning.- Laboratory in-house quality assurance and accreditation.- Quality assurance.- Accreditation.- ISO 9000.- Acknowledgement.- Reference.- to Quality Indicators.- Ammonia.- Total volatile bases (TVB).- K-value analysis.- Ethanol.- The Torry meter.- Total crude protein.- Estimation of moisture.- Total ash.- Crude fat: Goldfisch method.- Salt analysis.- Salt determination in solutions.- Total carbohydrates calculated as dextrose.- Qualitative determination for starch.- Histamine determination: Fluorometric method.- Quantitative determination of nitrite by the Griess-llosvay reaction.- Qualitative determination of nitrite.- Quantitative determination of hydroxyproline.- Phosphate determination.- Free fatty acids in oils.- Estimation of moisture and volatiies in oils.- Peroxide value.- Determination of Iodine number: Rosemund Kuhnenn method.- 11 Cleaning.- ll.1 Introduction to cleaning in the fish canning industry.- 11.1.1 Cleaners and sanitisers.- 11.1.2 Methods and equipment.- 11.1.3 Applying HACCP principles to cleaning.- 11.2 Introduction to cleaning in the meat industry.- 11.2.1 Slaughterhouse.- 11.2.2 Raw meat department.- 11.2.3 General factory cleaning.- 11.2.4 Personal hygiene.- Appendices 1-11.