CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Sardines are a common type of fish consumed by humans, as sardines are rich in

nutrients. They are commonly served in cans, but fresh sardines are often grilled, pickled or

smoked.

Sardines are canned in many different ways. At the cannery, the fish are washed, their

heads are removed, and the fish are cooked, either by deep-frying or by steam-cooking, after

which they are dried. They are then packed in olive, sunflower or soybean oil, water, or in

a tomato, chili or mustard sauce.

Canned sardines in supermarkets may actually be sprat or round herrings. Fish sizes vary

by species. Good quality sardines should have the head and gills removed before packing. They

may also be eviscerated before packing (typically the larger varieties). If not, they should be

purged of undigested or partially digested food or feces by holding the live fish in a tank long

enough for them to empty their digestive systems.

Sardines are typically tightly packed in a small can which is scored for easy opening, either

with a pull tab (similar to how a  beverage can  is opened), or a key, attached to the side of the can.

Thus, it has the virtues of being an easily portable, nonperishable, self-contained food. The close

packing of sardines in the can has led to their metaphorical use of the name in describing any

situation where people or objects are crowded together, for instance, in a bus or nightclub.

History of Canning and Canned Fish

Canned Fish 
These are fish which have been processed, sealed in an airtight container such as a sealed tin can,

and subjected to heat. Canning is a method of preserving food, and provides a typical shelf life

ranging from one to five years.

Fish have a low acidity at levels where microbes can flourish. From a public safety point of view,

foods with low acidity (a  pH  more than 4.6) the fishes need sterilization under high temperature

(116-130 °C). To achieve temperatures above the boiling point requires a method of pressurized

cooking which is provided by the containment within the can. After sterilization,

the containing can prevent microorganisms from entering and proliferating inside. Other than

sterilization, no method is perfectly dependable as a preservative.

Such preservation techniques are needed to prevent fish spoilage and lengthen shelf life.

They are designed to inhibit the activity of spoilage bacteria and the metabolic changes that result

in the loss of fish quality. Spoilage bacteria are the specific bacteria that produce the unpleasant

odors and flavors associated with spoiled fish.

The Innovation of Canning

Canning is a relatively recent innovation in the big picture of history. Up until about two

hundred years ago there were no tinned sardines. This changed in the early 19th century. Nicolas

Appert, a Frenchman from the Champagne region, started his career as a professional cook. At 31

he moved to Paris, where he set up a confectionary shop and started to experiment with

conserving sweets in sugar. According to Sue Shephard, in her book Pickled, Potted and Canned,

Appert was “determined to find a way to keep food successfully without spoiling either its flavor

or texture.” He was also generous and happy to share his technique with others. The local paper

reported that Appert had “found a way to fix the seasons; at his establishment, spring, summer

and autumn live in bottles.”

 In the North of France, along the Breton coast, fishermen fried sardines, then put them

into clay jars calledoules to preserve them. Joseph Colin, a friend of Appert who lived in the town

of Nantes, applied Appert’s new approaches to the existing Breton conservation methods,

creating what we now know as the canned sardine. In part his push was to open markets for

sardines—places too far from Brittany for then-standard shipping and storage methods. At the

time France also had a big push to figure out ways to feed the growing—and further afield—

military. Thanks to Appert and Colin, tinned sardines quickly became popular with French foot

soldiers.

By 1836 Colin was producing about 30,000 cans a year and his success spawned about 30

other small factories. By 1880 the region was turning out over 50,000,000 tins. For context,

remember that everything was still done by hand—each tin made by hand before it was packed.

And after the sardines were fried in oil, they were placed one by one into the tins, which were

then hand-soldered to seal the cooked fish safely inside. The Breton run ended when sardines

disappeared from the coastal waters in much the same way as they did a century later in

Monterey. The fish did return but not until much later. They’re back now, to be enjoyed regularly.

For decades, French sardines were shipped to North America. But the 1870 Franco-

Prussian War interrupted imports and created opportunity for American entrepreneurs.

Commercial canning on the East Coast began in 1875 in Eastport, when a New York-based

businessman set up the Eagle Preserved Fish Company. Volumes increased throughout the end of

the 19th century, continuing to climb until the middle of the 20th. The fish was actually Atlantic

herring—meatier and less tender and probably less flavorful than the pilchards coming from

Europe—but still good and ever more popular.

http://www.zingermansdeli.com/2012/01/sardine-history/
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Background of the Study

The technology for preserving foods in cans was developed at the beginning of the

nineteenth century when a Frenchman, Nicolas Appert, won a competition initiated by

another great character in French history, Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon is better

remembered for his feats as a conquering General, than he is for providing the stimulus

for the development of a food preservation technique that was to mark the start of the

canned food industry. Appert won his prize (12 000 francs) for demonstrating that foods

which had been heated in air-tight (hermetic) metal cans, did not spoil, even when they

were stored without refrigeration. Once the reliance on the refrigerated and/or frozen

food chain had been broken, it was possible to open markets for shelf-stable canned

products where no entrepreneur had ventured previously. In the time since Appert's

success, the technology of canning has been modified and improved. However, the

principles are as true today as they were when first enunciated. The success of the

international fish canning industry rests on the sound application of these principles.

Thermal Destruction of Bacteria

When fish are landed they contain, in their gut and on their skin. Millions of

bacteria which if allowed growing and multiplying will cause a rapid loss of the "as fresh"

quality and eventually result in spoilage. During post-harvest handling, in transit to the

cannery, the fish inevitably become contaminated with other bacteria; these will further

accelerate spoilage unless protective measures are employed. The purpose of canning is
to use heat. alone or in combination with other means of preservation, to kill or inactivate

all microbial contaminants, irrespective of their source, and to package the product in

hermetically sealed containers so that it will be protected from recontamination. While

prevention of spoilage underlies all cannery operations, the thermal process also cooks

the fish and in some cases leads to bone softening; changes without which canned fishery

products would not develop their characteristic sensory properties.

In order to make their products absolutely safe, canned fish manufacturers must

be sure that the thermal processes given their products are sufficient to eliminate all

pathogenic spoilage micro-organisms. Of these Clostridium botulinumis undoubtedly the

most notorious, for if able to reproduce inside the sealed container, it can lead to the

development of a potentially lethal toxin. Fortunately, outbreaks of botulism from canned

fishery products are extremely rare. However, as those familiar with the 1978 and 1982

botulism outbreaks in canned salmon will testify, one mistake in a seasons production has

the potential to undermine an entire industry. It is because the costs of failure are so

prohibitive that canned fish manufacturers go to great lengths to assure the safety of

their products. Safety for the end-user and commercial success for the canner can only be

relied upon when all aspects of thermal processing are thoroughly understood and

adequately controlled.

When bacteria are subjected to moist heat at lethal temperatures (as for instance

in a can of fish during retorting), they undergo a logarithmic order of death. It can be seen

that the time interval required to bring about one decimal reduction (i.e., a 90%

reduction) in the number of survivors is constant; this means that the time to reduce the
spore population from 10 000 to 1 000 is the same as the time required to reduce the

spore population from 1 000 to 100. This time interval is known as the decimal reduction

time, or the "D value ". The D value for bacterial spores is independent of initial numbers;

however it is affected by the temperature of the heating medium. The higher the

temperature the faster the rate of thermal destruction and the lower the D value - this is

why thermal sterilization of canned fishery products relies on pressure cooking at

elevated temperatures (>100°C) rather than on cooking in steam or water which is open

to the atmosphere. The unit of measurement for D is "minute" (the temperature is also

specified, and in fish canning applications it can be assumed to be 121.1°C).

Figure 1 Survivor curve for bacterial spores, characterized by a D value of 5 min, subjected to heat at constant lethal temperature

http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/T0007E/T0007E02.htm#1.2 Thermal Processing

Requirements for Canned Fishery Products