Q. What do you understand by Canning?
Canning involves the application of heat that is high enough to destroy all pathogenic microorganisms and their spores present along with the air tight sealing in sterilized containers. Canned foods can be stored at room temperature for at least a period of 2 years and still be safe to eat if they have been processed to be commercially sterile. The processing of food before the process of canning would involve blanching, filling the canned food with brine or syrup, exhausting, sealing and then heating. Microbial spoilage in canned fruits and vegetables is due either to under processing or leakage. Under processing is the failure to destroy during the heat process all bacteria capable of subsequent growth in the product. Leakage is due to the contamination of the product after an adequate heat process, either due to faulty seam or damage to the can after sealing. It is very important to know the pH classification of these fruits and vegetables so as to study their spoilage relationships. pH, we already know, is a scaled measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a food: the lower the pH, the higher the acidity.