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THE INSPECTION OF CANNED FOODS
Canning is a method of preservation of foodstuffs depending for its success on
the destruction by heat of all organisms which may cause spoilage of the product and
the subsequent exclusion of air. In the inspection of canned foods it is the duty of
the food inspector to satisfy himself that these conditions have been achieved and
maintained, that there is no significant metallic contamination of the contents of the
can and that no prohibited preservatives or colouring matters have been added.
For the two last mentioned investigations samples must be sent to the analyst, but
on the general question of soundness the food inspector must rely on his own examination
and it is because it seems to me that he has lost confidence in the ordinary methods
of inspection and is too inclined to appeal to the bacteriologist and the chemist that
I am presenting this paper. The same criticism has often been made of the medical
student of the present day. He is trained in great hospitals where there is available
every scientific aid to diagnosis and when he goes out into the world he lacks confidence
in his own unaided powers of observation and deduction.
The methods of inspection of canned foods are similar to those employed by a doctor
in the physical examination of his patients : inspection, palpation, percussion and