38 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIII, 



This sterilising in the containers is called ' processing,' and when 

 the containers have been really sealed hermetically and the 

 sterilising temperature has been attained throiiglwut the contents, 

 such contents are no longer susceptible of taint and will, for all 

 practical purposes, keep good indefinitely, though delicate goods, 

 such as fruits, are occasionally found to deteriorate from other 

 causes. 



7. Such is the rationale of the art of canning, which, so far as 

 this matter is concerned, may be summed up as the art of steri- 

 lising foods in such way and in such receptacles that all existing 

 bacteria are destroyed and the access of further bacteria is 

 prevented. It is not the air that causes taint but the air-borne 

 bacteria. 



8. In the following pages the art as applied Xo fish canning wiW 

 mostly be considered, and not as applied to meat, fruits, vegetables, 

 jams, cereal and other products ; it is a bulletin mainly for fishery 

 products and producers, but may be found otherwise useful. 



