canning

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canning The process of preserving food by sterilization and cooking in a sealed metal can, which destroys bacteria and protects from recontamination. If foods are sterilized and cooked in glass jars which are then closed with hermetically sealed lids, the process is known as bottling. Canned foods are sometimes known as tinned foods, because the cans were made using tin‐plated steel. More commonly now they are made of lacquered steel or aluminium. In aseptic canning, foods are pre‐sterilized at a very high temperature (150–175 °C) for a few seconds, and then sealed into cans under sterile (aseptic) conditions. The flavour, colour, and retention of vitamins are superior with this short‐time, high‐temperature process than with conventional canning.

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