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78
Other Foods—
Meat, Canned—various 2,806 lbs.
Provisions, various 1,499¾ „
Fish 1,034 „
Tomatoes 224 „
Onions 220 „
Condensed Milk 135 „
Cheese trimmings 118¼ „
Swiss Rolls 87 „
Spaghetti 87 „
Eggs 80 „
Sugar 56 „
Butter 24 „
Dried Fruit 15¾ ,,
Arrowroot 8 „
Sweets 7 „
6,401¾ lbs.
Total Food Rejected 7,854¾ lbs.
It will be observed that the largest category of food rejected was
"canned meats" and it must be recorded that, of this total, 2,300
lbs. was in respect of imported ham. This food which is brought
into the country under private licence, suffered greatly from decomposition
probably indicating inadequate preparation or imperfect
canning.
As this problem was nation wide, attention focussed on the fact
that such canned goods are not sterilised but only pasteurised. It
is apparent that the heat treatment given is such that deep-seated
parts of the ham may only reach approximately 170°F. Little is
known of the numbers and the nature of bacteria that are likely
to be found in such material before canning but, according to data
accumulated at the Low Temperature Research Station at Cambridge,
faecal streptococci and salt-tolerant strains of bacillus are
capable of surviving the canning process. This latter point certainly
provides a logical explanation for at least a portion of the heavy
loss of tinned ham during the year.