Canning and Fish Packaging Technology

Unit 3 - Unit operations in canning

3.2.2.2.Methods of filling
Cans are filled with food by manual and mechanical means. Filling machines may be automatic or semiautomatic type. Automatic machines dispense the food into cans after weighing or measuring.

For foods with soft tissues such as fish, hand filling is better as it disintegrates in machine filling due to friction or pressure. For some products such as crab meat, the prepared meat is packed in an orderly manner, e.g., claw meat is arranged at the top and bottom and middle layer is with body meat in the can. In the case of shrimp or clam meat, machine filling is possible. For other marine products hand filling of fish is done and the filling medium is dispensed using machines.