Literature of Canning and Preserving LORRAINE CIBOCH
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Research and Technical Department, American Can Co., Maywood, Ill.
The literature of the canning and preserving field is closely woven into that of agriculture, food chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition, organic chemistry, and other basic sciences. While some literature and reference tools indispensable to the searcher are well known, there are other valuable tools which are not so widely known, such as the publications of the state agricultural experiment stations and agencies of the Federal Government. A bibliography of reference sources presenting data of particular interest to the canning and preserving industry is given, and examples of methods used in answering typical questions brought to the library are discussed.
It is unfortunate that the literature of canning and preserving cannot be contained i n a specific section of the literature ready for inspection by those interested. Some diver gence into other fields is true of almost any branch of science; and when the nature of a canned food is considered, the extensive interrelation with other phases of the literature is not surprising. The preliminary choice of the proper variety of fruit or vegetable for canning, its cultivation, harvest, and preparation of the raw material, and the technology involved i n manufacturing the proper container for the product are a l l factors of impor tance. The nature of the finished product indicates the obvious relationship to the literature of nutrition and biochemistry. A discussion of a l l these factors would be a dissertation beyond the scope of one paper and would involve great lists of books and reference sources. This discussion, therefore, is limited as far as possible to the literature on food preservation, sources of information on legal regulations important to the canner and preserver, directories, the important and inevitable statistics, and the use of the cur rent literature. The bibliography presented at the end of the paper is grouped according to similar classifications. Those who work extensively with the literature view it analytically. They constantly ask questions such as: Just what does this book tell me that none other does? C a n this particular index help me find information that would be hidden otherwise? W h i c h class of questions will this help me answer? This paper is presented from this approach. Naturally, the actual mechanics of getting a product ready for the market are of primary importance. The canner wants to know which varieties best lend themselves to the processing involved; he wants to see a flow diagram of the process; he considers, the size of the container to be used and the processing temperature and time necessary. More concisely, the technologist wants the " h o w - t o " book. The canning industry is fortunate i n that there are several books which serve this purpose; some of these pre sent discussions of the equipment available, important patents i n the field, patented processes i n use, a history of the product, and frequently a bibliography supplementing the discussion. While i t is not possible to mention a l l of the books available, there are several which are i n constant use. Among these are: Bitting, "Appertizing or the A r t 280
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of Canning. Its History and Development"; Campbell, "Campbell's Book. A M a n u a l on Canning, Pickling and Preserving"; and Cruess, "Commercial F r u i t and Vegetable Products." I n the field of frozen food, the book by Tressler and Evers, " T h e Freezing Preserva tion of Foods," and for dehydrated foods, V o n Loesecke's " D r y i n g and Dehydration of Foods" are valuable references.
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Conformance with Standards and Specifications It is not sufficient for the canner to set up his factory, choose his process, and start packing a food. I n order to obtain uniformity i n the interest of consumers, standards have been set up by the Government to which the product must conform. While the Standards for Grades which relate to the commercial quality levels of the product are voluntary standards set up as a guide by the Production and Marketing Administration of the Department of Agriculture, the Standards of Identity, Quality, and Fill of Container for foods promulgated by the Federal Food and D r u g Administration are mandatory. The Standard of Identity tells the packer exactly what his product must contain, what optional ingredients may be included, and what information the label of the product must present. F o r example, it prescribes required percentage composition limits of fruit cocktail; and indicates that mint leaves may be used to flavor canned peas if their addition is declared on the label. The standard also gives the methods of analysis to be used i n testing the product for conformance. The Standard of Quality sets the minimum acceptable level of factors such as maturity, workmanship, color, etc. These standards are used as the basis on which the standards of grades mentioned above are formulated. A t the present time, only a limited number of precise Standards of Fill of Container have been promulgated. However, a general method for capacity and fill of container has been published i n regulations issued by the administration, and presumably additional standards and regulations i n this field will be forthcoming. A n y changes i n the standards or any new administrative regulations of the Govern ment are published i n the Federal Register. This is the official government newspaper which publishes daily the full text of presidential proclamations and executive orders and any order or regulation, notice or similar document which has general applicability and legal effect promulgated by federal administrative agencies. Another government publication, the Notices of Judgment under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, of the Food and D r u g Administration, is a monthly publication which gives complete i n formation on the shipment, processor, product, nature of charge, and disposition of the case in those instances when a product has been subject to seizure by the administration. The Annual Report of the Food and D r u g Administration is a resume of the work of the agency and reports of the scientific investigations carried on by the agency. If the canner plans to sell his product to a government agency, he must consult the specifications from the "Federal Standard Stock Catalog" which may be applicable. A s a type of literature, this specification is similar to the Standard of Identity. When the canner wants to sell his product to the armed forces, still other specifications may apply. These are the military specifications, which are most commonly issued by the Quartermaster Corps. While the specifications from the "Federal Standard Stock C a t a l o g " and the military specifications are listed i n the U. S. Government Monthly Catalog, the military specifications are also indexed in the four-volume Index to Military Specifications which is published semiannually with monthly supplements for each volume. I n this index, the specification number, the date it became effective, and the agency from which it may be obtained are listed.
Use of Directories Eventually, a canner will have a question which requires the use of one of the direc tories. Perhaps he will want to know who manufactures a special piece of equipment or who sells a particular type of sugar sirup. H e may need to know the address of a processor, the owner of a particular label, or how many packers of tomato products there LITERATURE RESOURCES Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1954.
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are i n the state of U t a h . When these questions arise, the sources most frequently con sulted are: " F o o d Products Directory," published by the Western Canner and Packer; "Canners Directory," compiled by the National Canners' Association; "Directory of Frozen Food Processors," published annually by Quick Frozen Foods; and the " M c G r a w H i l l Catalog Service for Food Industries Catalogs."
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Locating Statistical Information A s soon as one can of food has been packed, a statistic has been created. A t least one third of the questions received at one library associated with the canning industry deal with statistics i n one form or another: The quantity of N o . 2 cans of cream style corn packed i n 1951, the size of the cherry crop i n Michigan, the per capita consumption of frozen broccoli are typical queries. The variations of these questions can be endless, bringing i n factors of price or numbers of employees, etc. The most comprehensive sources of statistical information are : the statistical review and yearbook number of the Western Canner and Packer; " C a n n e d Food Pack Statistics," published by the National Canners' Association; the convention number of Quick Frozen Foods; the yearbook number of Pacific Fisherman; and " C a n n i n g Trade A l m a n a c , " published by Canning Trade. The " C a n n i n g Trade A l m a n a c " also has a section on food laws and regulations in which some of the United States grades and the Standards of Identity, Quality, and Fill are listed. Finally, there are three publications of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture. These short, mimeographed papers are issued quarterly and they contain the most current information on estimates of acreage, price comparisons, and trends i n the industry. The titles of these papers are the National Food Situation, the Fruit Situation, and the Vegetable Situation.
Periodicals Related to Canning and Preserving N o matter how highly organized the literature is, or how comprehensive the refer ence tools, those i n literature work are acutely aware that the current literature must be searched and used constantly—the piece of information that is sought is usually hidden in an article. It is also necessary to keep up with current developments in technology and research. There are less than 10 journals devoted entirely to the field of canning and preserving. Probably the oldest of these is Canning Trade, which has been published weekly since 1878. I n addition, the Canner which began publication i n 1895, the Food Packer, Western Canner and Packer, and Quick Frozen Foods are the most important of these periodicals. However, these are trade journals and there is no technical magazine or journal devoted specifically to research i n canning and preserving. Results of this type of research are reported i n the journals devoted to food technology and research, and in journals of related fields. There are approximately 20 journals of this type when the jour nals of the basic sciences are not included.
Indexes and Abstracts There is no commercial index or abstract journal devoted to canning and preserving. E v e n the " L i b r a r y Abstracts" of this laboratory prepared for staff use include references from the fields of metals, nutrition, organic chemistry, and engineering, since they natu rally reflect the diverse interests of the staff food technologists. The United States Department of Agriculture Library publication, the Bibliography of Agriculture, is a very useful abstract journal. This is a monthly publication which gives short abstracts and includes some state publications. Although the publication did not begin until 1942, it is possible to go back into the literature by using the Experiment Station Record which was published from 1889 to 1946. W i t h the additional use of the Agriculture Index, Chemical Abstracts, Biological Abstracts, and, occasionally, Industrial Arts Index and Engineering Index, the literature of canning is covered adequately. F o r foreign coverage, the British publication, Food Science Abstracts, is useful and is hindered only by conditions which have greatly delayed publication. LITERATURE RESOURCES Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1954.
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Perhaps the area which is least comprehensively indexed and abstracted is that of state publications. Information must literally be dug from these sources. Locating these publications and indexing them more fully than is normally done commercially is one approach to the problem. A publication of the Library of Congress called the U. S. Monthly Checklist of State Publications serves the same purpose for state publications as the U. S. Government Monthly Catalog does for publications of the Federal Government.
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Manufacturers9 Literature Naturally, manufacturers' literature is valuable, particularly in descriptions of equip ment. These bulletins and data sheets can be located only through constant scanning of the free literature columns and advertisements, and adequate indexing or classification of the literature once it is in the library. In limiting this paper to the discussion of the literature of canning and preserving, the most obvious sources, the commonly used handbooks, encyclopedias, etc., which are found in most technical libraries have been omitted. It has been necessary to limit even those references which, while not strictly a part of canning, are indispensable to the literature of the field. There are many references on foods, composition of foods, agri cultural chemistry, and analytical methods which are used constantly* A list of some of the more commonly used tools is presented in the bibliography of this paper. Bibliography Books and Bulletins CANNING AND PRESERVING
American Can Co., New York, "Canned Food Reference Manual," 3rd ed., 1949. Bitting, A. W., "Appertizing or the Art of Canning. Its History and Development," San Francisco, Trade Pressroom, 1937. Campbell, C. H., "Campbell's Book. A Manual on Canning, Pickling and Preserving," 3rd ed., Chicago, Vance Publishing Co., 1950. Canning Trade, Baltimore, Md., "Complete Course in Canning," 7th ed., 1946. Cruess, W. V., "Commercial Fruit and Vegetable Products," 3rd ed., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1948. Howard, A. J., "Canning Technology," Washington, D. C., Sherwood Press, 1949. Hunziker, O. F., La Grange, Ill., "Condensed Milk and Milk Powder," 6th ed., 1946. Intern. Tin Research and Development Council, Publ. 85 (1939). Historic Tinned Foods. Jones, Osman, "Canning Practice and Control," London, Chapman & Hall, Ltd., 1949. Lang, O. W., "Thermal Processes for Canned Marine Products," Berkeley, University of California Press, 1935. Natl. Canners' Assoc., Bull. 26-L, 7th ed. (1950). Processes for Low-Acid Canned Foods in Metal Containers. Natl. Canners' Assoc., Bull. 30-L (1948). Processes for Low-Acid Canned Foods in Glass Containers. Tressler, D. K., and Evers, C. F., "Freezing Preservation of Foods," New York, Avi Publishing Co., Inc., 1947. Tressler, D. K., and Lemon, J. McW., "Marine Products of Commerce," 2nd ed., New York, Rein hold Publishing Corp., 1951. Von Loesecke, H. W., "Drying and Dehydration of Foods," New York, Reinhold Publishing Corp., 1943. Von Loesecke, H. W., "Outlines of Food Technology," 2nd ed., New York, Reinhold Publishing Corp., 1949. RELATED TO CANNING AND PRESERVING
Assoc. Official Agricultural Chemists, Washington, D. C, "Methods of Analysis," 7th ed., 1950. Bailey, L. H., "Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture," 3 vols., New York, Macmillan Co., 1928. Blumenthal, Saul, "Food Products," Brooklyn, Chemical Publishing Co., 1947. Frear, D. E. H., ed., "Agricultural Chemistry," 2 vols., New York, D. Van Nostrand Co., 1950. Herrick, A. B., "Food Regulation and Compliance," New York, Revere Publishing Co., 1948. Jacobs, M. B., ed., "Chemistry and Technology of Food and Food Products," 3 vols., 2nd ed., New York, Interscience Publishers, 1951. Leach, A. E., "Food Inspection and Analysis," 4th ed., New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1920. Mrak, Ε. M., and Stewart, G. F., ed., "Advances in Food Research," 3 vols., New York, Academic Press, 1948 to 1951. Parker, M. E., "Food-Plant Sanitation," New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1948. Sherman, H. C, "Food Products," New York, Macmillan Co., 1948. Tanner, F. W., "Microbiology of Foods," 2nd ed., Champaign, 111., Garrard Press, 1944. LITERATURE RESOURCES Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1954.
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U. S. Dept. Agr., Agricultural Handbook 8 (1950). Composition of Foods; Raw, Processed, Pre pared. Ward, Artemus, "Encyclopedia of Food," New York, Baker and Taylor Co., 1929. Winton, A. L., and Winton, Κ. B., "Structure and Composition of Foods," 4 vols., New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1932 to 1939! Directories and Statistics Canning Trade, "Canning Trade Almanac," annual. McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., New York, "MeGraw-Hill Catalog Food Industries Catalogs," 1949 to 1950. Natl. Assoc. Frozen Food Packers, Washington, D. C., "Annual Statistics," annual. Natl. Canners' Assoc., Washington, D. C., "Canned Food Pack Statistics," annual. Part 1, Vege tables; Part 2, Fruit. Natl. Canner's Assoc., Washington, D. C., "Canners Directory," annual. Pacific Fisherman, yearbook number, annual. Quick Frozen Foods, convention number, annual. Quick Frozen Foods, "Directory of Frozen Food Processors," annual. "Thomas Register of Manufacturers," Thomas Publishing Co., New York, 1951. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Agricultural Economics, Fruit Situation, quarterly. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Agricultural Economics, National Food Situation, quarterly. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Agricultural Economics, Vegetable Situation, quarterly. U. S. Dept. Commerce, Bur. Census, Washington, D. C., "Census of Manufactures," biannual. U. S. Dept. Commerce, Bur. Census, Washington, D. C., "Statistical Abstract of the United States," 1951. Western Canner and Packer, "Food Products Directory," 1947 to 1948. Western Canner and Packer, statistical review and yearbook number, annual. Indexes and Abstract Journals Agriculture Index, H. W. Wilson Co., New York, Ν. Y. Bibliography of Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Biological Abstracts, Union of American Biological Sciences, Philadelphia, Pa. Chemical Abstracts, AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Washington, D. C.
Engineering Index, Engineering Index, Inc., Ν. Y. Experiment Station Record, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Food Science Abstracts, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, London. Index to Military Specifications, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Industrial Arts Index, H. W. Wilson Co., New York, Ν. Y. U. S. Government Publications Monthly Catalog, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington U. S. Monthly Checklist of State Publications, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D Periodicals CANNING AND PRESERVING
Canner, Canner Publishing Co., Chicago, 111., weekly. Canning Trade, The Canning Trade, Inc., Baltimore, Md., weekly. Food Manufacture, Leonard Hill, Ltd., London, England, monthly. Food Packer, Vance Publishing Corp., Chicago, 111., monthly. Food Preservation Quarterly, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Hornbush, W.S.W., Australia. Glass Packer, Ogden Publishing Co., New York, N. Y.f monthly. Quick Frozen Foods, Quick Frozen Foods, New York, Ν. Y., monthly. Western Canner and Packer, Western Trade Journals, Inc., San Francisco, Calif., monthly. RELATED TO CANNING AND PRESERVING
Assoc. Food & Drug Officials U. S., Baltimore, Md., Quarterly Bulletin, quarterly. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organiz tion, Melbourne, Australia, quarterly. Canadian Food Industries, Federal Publications, Ltd., Garden vale, Quebec, Canada, monthly. Federal Security Agency, Food Drug Admin., Washington, D. C, Annual Report. Federal Security Agency, Food Drug Admin., Washington, D. C. Notices of Judgment under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, monthly. Food Drug and Cosmetic Law Journal, Commerce Clearing House, Inc.; Chicago, 111., monthly. Food, Nema Press Ltd., London, England, monthly. Food Field Reporter, Topics Publishing Co., New York, Ν. Y., biweekly. Food in Canada, Consolidated Press, Ltd., Toronto, Canada, monthly. Food Engineering, McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., New York, Ν. Y., monthly. Food Research, Garrard Press, Champaign, 111., bimonthly. Food Technology, Institute of Food Technologists, Chicago, 111., monthly. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Society of Chemical Industry, London, Englan monthly. Meat, Meat, Inc., Chicago, 111., monthly. LITERATURE RESOURCES Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1954.
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National Provisioner, National Provisioner, Inc., Chicago, Ill., monthly. Pacific Fisherman, Consolidated Publishing Co., Seattle, Wash., monthly. Standards and Specifications Federal Register,U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. "Federal Standard Stock Catalog," U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Federal Security Agency, Food and Drug Admin., Washington, D. C., Standards of Fill of Containers. Federal Security Agency, Food and Drug Admin., Standards of Identity. Federal Security Agency, Food and Drug Admin., Standards of Quality. U. S. Dept. Agr., Production and Marketing Admin., Washington, D. C., Standards for Grades. RECEIVED October 20, 1952. Presented before the Divisions of Chemical Literature and Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Symposium on Literature Resources of the Food Industries, at the 122nd Meeting of the AMERICAN
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CHEMICAL SOCIETY Atlantic City, N. J.
LITERATURE RESOURCES Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1954.
