UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

Course Name: Principles of Food Science and Nutrition

Course Code: 21AGT-209
Name of Instructor: Dr Reshu Rajput (E10479)
Name of lecture: Canning

Department of Agriculture Sciences (UIAS)

1

www.cuchd.in Campus: Gharuan, Mohali

 CANNING

Canning is a method of
food preservation wherein
a food and its container
are rendered commercially
sterile by application of
heat, alone or in
combination with pH
and /or water activity or
other chemicals.”
CANNING OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

• Nicholas Appert (1809), a French confectioner developed heat

preservation of food in sealed container known as canning.
• In 1810 Appert published the first book on canning entitled “The
Art of Preserving Animal and vegetable substances for many years" which is
the first known work on canning.
• Canning also known as Appertization.
• Louis Pasteur (1864) discovered that the micro- organisms cause
food spoilage and define the term Pasteurization.
• The term canning refers to a process which involves heating food
stuff in hermetically sealed containers for a specific time at
specific temperature to eliminate microbial pathogens that
endanger public health and microorganisms and enzymes that
deteriorate food during storage.
Manufacturing of cans: Metal cans are mainly used for canning of fruits and vegetables.
Open top sanitary (OTS) cans are made from tin plates which are very thin sheets of
steel lightly coated with tin (0.00025 cm thick) on both sides.
• Tin can is cut into proper sizes with a trimming and slitting machine.
• After notching and slitting, the flat can body is passed through an edging machine
where hooks are formed.
• The can body is then bent into a cylindrical shape and side seam is soldered.
• The can ends are supplied separately along with the cans.
Fabrication of can:
• Reforming : First step consists of reforming cans in reformer to give them cylindrical
shape.
• Flanging: The cans are then flanged by using a flanger, which curls the rims/edges.
• Seaming: One end of the can is now fixed to the flanged can body by means of a
double seaming machine which firstly form the seam and secondly tightens it.
• The finished cans are now tested for any leaks with the help of a vacuum/air
pressure tester.
• Finally, after the filling of the cans with fruits or vegetables the second lid (end
cover) after coding is fixed similarly for airtight sealing of cans.
• Can Testing :For testing, the probe of empty can tester is sealed empty can to which
air is pumped to about 15-20 psi.
• Any leakage is judged by immersing can in water. In case of any leakage, the defect
in the double seamer needs to be rectified before starting any production.
Table7.1: Trade name and sizes of cans used in canning of
fruits and vegetables

Trade name Trade size Size inches (Dia x Size mm Capacity cc

Ht)
11
A1 211×400 2 /16 x4 68×102 316
1 9
1 lb jam 301×309 3 /16 x3 /16 78×90 356

1 1
A1 tall 301×411 3 /16 x4 /16 78×119 479

7 8
A2 307×408 3 /16 x4 /16 87×114 579
1 12
1 lb butter 401×212 4 /16 x2 /16 103×70 470

1
2 lb jam 401×400 4 /16 x4 103×102 721

1 11
A 2 1/2 401×411 4 /16 x4 /16 103×119 848
3 13
7 lb jam 603×513 6 /16 x5 /16 157×148 2543
3
A10 603×700 6 /16 x7 157×178 3069
CANNED FRUIT PROCESSING STEPS
• Inspection of incoming raw materials
• Food preparation
• thawing, cleaning, washing, sorting, grading, peeling, trimming,
slicing or dicing for vegetables and fruits.
• Meats and fish may be tempered, boned, trimmed, diced, minced
or sliced etc.
• Blanching
• Filling the container
• Exhausting
• Sealing the container
• Heat processing
• Cooling
• Incubation and quality control checks
• Labeling, palletizing, warehousing and dispatch
Steps involved in Canning
Raw material selection / Receiving
• Fruits should be ripe but firm, evenly matured, free from blemishes,
insect damage and malformation.
• Over ripe fruits yield poor quality product, while under ripe/immature
fruit generally shrivel or toughen on canning.
• Vegetables except peas, beans etc are harvested at mature stage to
enable them to withstand cooking during sterilization.
Washing
• Washing with water to remove dust, dirt and adhering surface micro-
flora.
• Mechanical washers involve agitating or tumbling the commodity on
moving belts or revolving screens while they are immersed in water or
subjected to water sprays.
• Washing by using high pressure sprays is most satisfactory.
• Washing after peeling removes vitamins and minerals.
• Vegetables may be soaked in dilute solution of potassium permanganate
or chlorine (25-50 ppm) for disinfection.
• The water temperature should be kept low to keep the fruit firm and to
reduce leaching.
Sorting and grading
• Automatic colour sorters can be used for sorting to reduce labour cost.
• The fruit and vegetables are graded to obtain uniform quality with respect to
size, colour etc. after preliminary sorting.
• Grading can be done either manually or with the help of grading machines.
• For mechanical grading, the fruit and vegetables are passed over screens
with holes of different diameter.
• Different types of mechanical graders include screen grader, roller grader,
rope or cable grader etc. Screen graders fitted with vibrating screens of
copper with circular openings are most commonly used.
• White button mushrooms are graded on cap size basis. Grade A (cap
diameter up to 2.5cm) and B grade (cap diameter beyond 2.5cm).
Peeling, coring and Pitting
• Peeling and coring can be done
(1) by hand or knife
(2) by machine
(3) by heat treatment
(4) by lye solution.
 Table-7.3:Common methods for the peeling of fruit and vegetables

S.No. Peeling method Commodities

1 Knife peeling (manual) All fruit and vegetables
2 Mechanical knife peeling Apple, pear, pineapple

3 Hot water peeling Tomato

4 High pressure steam/water Potato, tomato
peeling
5 Abrasive peeling Potato,ginger,carrots
(carborundum crystal acting
as abrasive material)
6 Flame peeling Brinjal, onion, garlic
(rotates food through a
furnace heated to more than
1000oC)
7 Lye peeling Orange segments, peach,
(boiling caustic soda/KOH (1- apricot, nectarines,
2%) for 1-2 minutes) pears,carrots and sweet
potatoes
Blanching methods
• Steam blanching -less loss of water soluble nutrients leaching -oxidation of product
becomes a problem
• Water blanching -fast process due to a better rate of heat transfer
• severe on nutrients
• effective washing process
• blanch water can be used to transport the raw materials to the next stage of the
process
• Microwaves -very expensive and complex equipment is required -low leaching losses
• Hot Gas -expensive -hot gas from a furnace is blown down through the product along
with team which reduces dehydration and increases the heat transfer rate
Filling
• Under-filling: gives a large headspace. Large headspaces result in the following:
• Low vacuum if heat exhaust is used.
• Mushiness of the contents due to excessive movement inside the can.
• Under-filling
• Overfilling: produces excessively small headspaces, resulting in the following:
• Low vacuum if steam flow closure is relied on for vacuum.
• Swelling of can due to hydrogen production.
• Springiness or distortion of can.
Filling in cans
• Generally plain cans are used.
• For coloured fruits like plums, black grapes;
strawberries etc lacquered cans are employed.
• The fruit and vegetable either slices, halves or whole
are filled into the cans keeping in view the declared
drain weight.
Syruping or brining
• The cans are filled with hot sugar syrup (35-55%) for
fruits and with hot brine (2-10%) concentration for
vegetables.
• The syrup or brine is added to the can at a
temperature of 79-82oC, leaving 0.32-0.47cm head
space either manually or in automatic machines.
Exhausting
Exhausting aims to remove air from the package before closure. Exhausting will:
• Remove all gases from the headspace which will minimize strains on seams during
retorting.
• Remove oxygen, otherwise ether corrosion, oxidation and discolouration will result.
• Give a vacuum on cooling to give space for the gases which are formed on storage.
HEAT EXHAUST
• Contents are heated before sealing. This is ideal for products containing lots of
trapped air. Final temperature depends on closing temperature and headspace.
• STEAM INJECTION also referred to as STEAM FLOW CLOSURE
• This flushes the headspace out with a jet of steam just before closing. This
method is more effective where products are packed in hot brines and syrups and
where a large headspace exists.
MECHANICAL EXHAUST
• Uses a vacuum pump to remove air from the package.
• Food is filled at low temperatures. This method is useful for foods which trap a great
deal of air.
• Seaming/closing: Immediately after exhausting, the cans are sealed
by using a double seamer. Double seaming is a two step operation.
Clinching: the can lid is inserted on the can body hook by holding and
rotating the lid-in-position can between two rollers in the first
operation.
The next step is to press the seam using the second operation roller,
which results in an appropriate overlap of the body hook and cover
hook which results in an appropriate countersink.
• Coding/Embossing: The code provides the necessary information
about the product like name of canning unit, product packed in the
can, date of packing, lot number etc.
• Heat processing
All fruits and acid vegetables can be processed satisfactorily in boiling
water (100oC) as the presence of acid retards the growth of bacteria
and their spores.
Non acidic vegetables (except tomato and rhubarb) are processed at
higher temperatures of about 115-121oC under pressure.
Over cooking should be avoided as it spoils the texture, flavour and
appearance of the product.
Processing methods
• Open cooker consists of stainless steel (SS) or galvanized iron
tanks containing boiling water in which sealed cans are placed.
• Continuous non-agitating cookers, In this system ,the cans
travel in boiling water in crates carried by over-head conveyors
on a continuous moving belt.
• Continuous agitating cookers, In this system, the sealed cans
moving on the belt are rotated by a special mechanical device
to agitate the contents of the cans.
• For low acid foods like vegetables (pH > 4.5), with hard texture,
the processing is carried out in a pressurized vessel (retorts) at
elevated temperatures (≥ 110oC) under higher steam pressure
(2-3 atmospheres).
Cooling
• Immediately after processing, the sealed cans are rapidly cooled to
approximately 35-40oC to stop the cooking process and to prevent stack
burning.
• Cooling is done by
• Immersing/passing hot cans in cold water tanks or by using cold
water jets.
• by passing cold water in to a pressure cooker and exposing cans to
air.
• Water used for cooling should be non corrosive, low in bacterial and
yeast count and chlorinated with 2 ppm of available chlorine.
Storage
• After cooling, the cans are stacked to allow the outer surface to dry as
even a small traces of moisture can induce rusting.
• Labeling is done manually or by using labeling machine.
• Cans should be stored in cool and dry place (below 30oC).
• Adequately processed cans usually ensure an acceptable product
quality up to at least one year.
Machineries required for Canning

Can body Reformer Flanger

Double Seamer

Lid Embossing (Batch

no, manufacture date
etc)

Can retort/autoclave
 Table 7.2 Specific requirement for canning of fruits

Fruits Preparation Syrup Exhaust Processing Type of can

o
Strength time at 100 C
o
( B) A2½ can)

minutes

Apricot Use whole or halves, peel by 40 + 0.1 % Exhaust can at 82- 20-25 Plain
o
dipping in boiling lye solution (2% citric acid 100 C for 6-10

NaOH) for 30 seconds to 1 minute, minutes or until

dip in cold water, cut two halves, temperature incan

o
remove pit, keep immersed in center reaches 79 C.

2%salt solution until filled in can.

Peach Use whole fruit ,peel by dipping in 40 -do- 25 Plain

boiling lye solution (2% (NaOH)

for 30 seconds to 1 minute dip in

cold water, cut two halves,

remove pit, keep immersed in 2%

salt solution until filled in can.

 Table 7.2 Specific requirement for canning of fruits

Guava Peel, cut into pieces, remove seeds 40 -do- 20 plain

and keep in 2% brine to prevent

browning and fill in can.

Litchi Peel by hand, remove pits. 40+0.5% citric -do- 25 plain

acid

Pineapple Peel, core and slice fruit, punch 40 -do- 25 plain

circular rings (5.6-8.8 cm diameter)

Pear Peel by hand, cut longitudinally into 40+0.1%citric -do- 20-25 plain

two halves, core and keep in 2% brine acid

to prevent browning until filled in

cans.

Jack fruit Cut fruit into pieces, remove bulbs, 50 + 0.5-0.75% -do- 20-25 plain

separate seed from bulbs, use whole, citric acid

halves or quarters.

Loquat Cut into halves 40 -do- 25 plain

Table 7.3 Specific requirement for canning of vegetables

Vegetable Preparation Brine Exhaust Processing Type of can

strength (A2½ can) at

o
(%) 121 C
2
(0.7 kg/cm

steam pressure)

Asparagus Wash, grade, cut lengthwise 2.25% Exhaust can at 90- 24 Plain /sulphur
o
into pieces of desired size, 100 C for 7-10 resistant
o
blanch for 2-3 minutes. minutes, (79 C in

can center)

Beans Use tender, stringless beans, 2.25 -do- 40 Plain/ sulphur

slice 2.5cm length, blanch resistant

and fill in can.

Cabbage Shred cabbage, blanch in 2.0 -do- 40 Plain

1% citric acid boiling solution

for 5-6 min, cool in 2% brine

Table 7.3 Specific requirement for canning of vegetables.

Vegetable Preparation Brine Exhaust Processing Type of can

strength (%) o
(A2½ can) at 121 C
2
(0.7 kg/cm steam

pressure)

Mushroom Use tight buttons, blanch 2.0+ 0.3 % -do- 25 Plain

for 4-5 minutes, immerse in citric acid+

2% salt solution, fill in 1% sugar

cans.

Peas Shell, grade, boil for 3-5 2+2.5% -do- 45 Sulphur

min sugar resistant

Potato Peel, keep in 2% brine, 2 -do- 45 Plain

blanch in boiling water for

2-3 min, keep in 2.5%

CaCl2 for 1 hour, wash and

Methods of calculation of process time
• Formula (mathematical) method.
• Graphical method.
• Formula or Mathematical method: It is based on the equivalent lethality of
different time temperature combinations and enables rapid calculation of
process time. The process time in formula method is calculated from the
following expression:-
 STORAGE LIFE OF CANNED FOODS

• Manufacturers advise two years life from time of

manufacture.
• It is good practice to use them within twelve months of
purchase to enjoy maximum flavour, appearance and
nutrition.
• Always store canned foods in a cool, dry place.