No. 2(l92l) REMARKS ON CANNING IO3 



fish otherwise than in perfectly sound condition ; indeed he would 

 otherwise soon have to cease canning from want of business or 

 from magisterial action. 



141. But there are other causes for originally bad or poor 

 contents against which the canner must be on the watch. Fish 

 may be perfectly good as regards freedom from taint, but be such 

 as to give results unacceptable to the consumer ; e.g., fish may be 

 ' spent ' (exhausted after spawning), or out of season, or be very 

 thin so as to be little but scales and bones, or large but utterly 

 tasteless. For instance, sardines may be not worth canning after 

 February or March, when they are generally small, lean, and 

 without flavour; or again certain classes of Indian sardines such 

 as the chalamathi (Clupea fimbriata) are always of poor quality, 

 and are not only bony but have especially hard bones; these 

 should never be canned for high class goods. Certain large fish, 

 moreover, do not seem to can properly, developing a bitter flavour ; 

 this however may be due to a wrong recipe or method and not to 

 improper material. 



142. Or again the fish may be good but the oil may be insuffi- 

 cient especially with steamed sardines, or of wrong quality, or 

 rancid, or even may have been so ' refined ' as to lose its best 

 characteristics. Coconut oil will spoil any can, and other oils, 

 though good cooking oils, are quite impossible for canning unless 

 for particular classes of consumer. Rancidity is unfortunatel> 

 common in India where the original preparation of oil is generally 

 defective and productive of rancidity ; fortunately a laboratory is 

 not essential for testing such oil, since the experienced canner 

 can detect rancidity by the taste and by the way in which it 

 affects the throat ; moreover, acidity can be detected and measured 

 by simple means. 



Spices again may be cheap but flavourless, or improper spices 

 may be used ; ordinarily speaking, for canning other than fish 

 paste very little spice is used and that mainly for sardines or 

 marinaled fish. 



143. Bad preparation and treatment of the can and its contents. — 

 This has been dealt with passim, and involves the whole operations 

 of canning from the moment of catching to the close of processing ; 

 bad treatment in the boats, improper purchase and use of badly 

 treated fish, wrong brining perhaps in dirty or weak brine, bad 

 drying, careless frying in bad oil, excessive dryage by steaming 



