Sea Food Pressure Canning Clinic

Sea food and Meat Pressure Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in airtight Mason or Ball jars. Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under specific circumstances, it can be much longer.^[1]

Warning … DO NOT can Sea Food or Meat using the Water Bath method

In 1974, the National Food Processors Association tested samples of canned food from an 1865 steamboat shipwreck. Its appearance, smell, and vitamin content had deteriorated, there was no microbial growth, and the 109-year-old food was still considered safe to eat.^[2]

During the first years of the Napoleonic Wars, the French government offered a cash award to any inventor who could devise a cheap and effective method of preserving large amounts of food. The larger armies of the period required increased and regular supplies of quality food. Limited food availability was among the factors limiting military campaigns to the summer and autumn months.

In 1809, Nicolas Appert observed that food cooked inside a jar did not spoil unless the seals leaked and developed a method of sealing food in glass jars. The lack of spoilage was unknown at the time since it would be another 50 years before Louis Pasteur demonstrated the role of microbes in food spoilage.

Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the canning process was gradually employed in other European countries and in the US. Canned food also began to spread beyond Europe – Robert Ayars established the first American canning factory in New York City in 1812, using improved tin-plated wrought-iron cans for preserving oysters, meats, fruits and vegetables.

Demand for canned food significantly increased during the wars of the nineteenth century. Urban populations demanded ever-increasing quantities of cheap, varied, quality food they could keep at home without having to go shopping daily. The late 19th century saw the range of canned food available to urban populations significantly increase, as canners competed with each other using novel foodstuffs, highly decorated printed labels, and lower prices.

Canning is a way of processing food to extend its shelf life. The idea is to make food available and edible long after the processing time. A 1997 study found that canned fruits and vegetables are as rich with dietary fiber and vitamins as the same corresponding fresh or frozen foods, and in some cases the canned products are richer than their fresh or frozen counterparts.^[14] The heating process during canning appears to make dietary fiber more soluble, and therefore more readily fermented in the colon into gases and physiologically active byproducts. Canned tomatoes have a higher available lycopene content. Consequently, canned meat and vegetables are often among the list of food items that are stocked during emergencies.^[15]