Canning and Fish Packaging Technology

Unit 5 - Changes in canned foods and spoilage

5.1.Changes in canned foods and spoilage
Change is the rule of nature and canned product is no exception to this rule. Some changes make the product more acceptable. For example, fish absorbs salt over a period of time from filling media and it will have better taste than when it was just prepared. Some changes are detrimental changes to the quality of the product. However, if the detrimental changes are unacceptable to the consumer, such a change is termed as spoilage. In canning method of preservation, most of the detrimental changes arrested by excluding oxygen from inside space of the can, destroying enzymes and microorganisms by heat. Some changes, even though more slowly take place even in food cans and its characteristics change over a period of time, most of these changes may not be acceptable.