Thinking of healthy food at once brings to mind the long-heard cry for fresh food. No questioning of the popularity of fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat when it comes to health-friendly food. What is still under debate is canned stuff. Is it safe to eat canned food? And also, is canned food as nutritious as fresh food? Despite, the innumerable writings and gossip against the use of canned food, there is good reason to continue its use and even encourage it.

Now, why do we need canned food at all? The simple answer is that canning is the most important method of food preservation. We need to save our food supplies from spoilage and hence we can our eatables for long-term use. ‘How long?’ is a question with no single, precise answer. But the famous incident of the steamboat Bertrand’s sinkage (in 1865 near Nebraska) gives us some idea. In 1968, more than a hundred years after the ship went down, canned food recovered from the wreckage was tested for the contamination and nutritional value of its contents (mostly oysters, vegetables, and fruit). The findings were almost startling: the food was safe to eat and, with the exception of a few vitamins, had retained its nutritional value. One hundred years of protection from germs!

Canning is, when done by the book, a meticulously conducted procedure for food preservation. Very high temperatures are applied for heating food items, killing bacteria (the main agents of food spoilage) and other microbes that destroy food. Many of these microorganisms are air-borne, so the cans to be used are heated (to kill the germs lurking in there) and sealed air-tight, quickly after the food items are placed in them. Though glass jars, paperboard cans, and plastic containers are used for storing different kinds of food, tin cans are unsurpassed in carrying all kinds of food items. Two-piece tin cans have now been in use for a while, though the use of the older version – the three-piece tin cans – is still dominant in the food storage industry. Tin cans are continually being updated for the prevention of leaching (especially of lead) into the contents of the can. Food in cans is now safer and no less palatable.

Scientific testing of canned food confirms that the three major categories of nutrients – carbohydrates, proteins, and fats – do not lose their nutritional worth for a considerable period of time after canning. Air-tight preservation prevents the loss of many vitamins including the vitamins A, C, and most of the B group of vitamins; the exception being vitamin B1, which may, in some foods (especially the non-acidic ones), is lost to a significant degree. Some studies reveal that some canned foods have even higher levels of vitamins, minerals, and fiber than fresh food left in the open for a few days – its nutrients being destroyed by exposure to light and air. On the whole, canned food is not inferior to fresh food in any of the known components of nutrition.

There have been instances of food poisoning due to consumption of canned foods but more incidents of similar nature have also been recorded for fresh food. Lapses in following the standard procedure for canning may affect the quality of food in a small number of cases. However, these are not frequent and cases of serious food poisoning from canned food are very rare. It is important for all consumers to report any case of food-borne illness to the local health administration.

farmcommunities.com