Chapter 2
I Technology Transported; 1788-1840
II Technology Established; 1840-1940
i Meat Preserving: Heat Processing Introduced
ii Horticultural Products: Heat, Sugar and Solar Drying
iii Refrigeration and the Export of Meat
iv Milling and Baking
v Dairy Products
vi Beverages
vii Sugar: Supplying an Ingredient
III The Coming Of Science
IV From Science To Technology: The Post-war Years
V Products And Processes
VI Conclusion
VII Acknowledgements
References
Index
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Meat Preserving: Heat Processing Introduced (continued)
More recent advances in canning include studies on corrosion and protective coatings begun at CSIRO DFP* in 1950, the introduction by Gadsdens and Carlton Brewery in 1957 of beer cans,[42] since extended to other beverages, aluminium cans and welded, i.e., leadfree cans. Continuous retorting was introduced in the post-war years and D. J. Casimir at CSIRO improved the French process of flame sterilization of food in cans. Regrettably, in spite of international recognition of Casimir's innovation of can rotation and of an Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology Award to Tarax Pty., Ltd., for the development, with Casimir, and operation of a flame spin sterilizer, the advance has not become popular.[43]* CSIR Division of Food Preservation and Transport.
Canning was not the only meat preserving technique tried in the nineteenth century. An English patent of Richard Jones was used by the Central Queensland Meat Preserving Company with disastrous results.[44] A vacuum was used to remove air and water while the cans were being heated. It was based on the original belief that removal of air was the vital requirement. The heating was sometimes sufficient to preserve the can contents and this was unfortunate, because the process was based on a false premise and was therefore unreliable. Bankruptcy followed. Others, including the Sydney Meat Preserving Company, toyed with the idea of using this process. Luckily, they did not. Many proposals for the use of chemical preservatives of various kinds were put forward in the 1860s.[45] Some were tried in Australia but none was successful though some form of preservative was sometimes combined with another technique as for example, by the Victoria Meat Preserving Company.
Liebig's meat extract has already been mentioned. This product was invented in 1847 by Justus von Liebig, the famous German chemist and biochemist. It is made by finely chopping very lean raw meat, thoroughly extracting it with hot water, and evaporating the resulting solution slowly with constant stirring in shallow pans directly heated from below. It contains the soluble proteins and related nitrogen compounds as well as the minerals, mainly phosphate, of the meat. It keeps because it is low in water, high in soluble salts, and therefore is of very low water activity. Tindal got written permission from Liebig to make his product but simultaneously Robert Tooth also began to make it at Yengaree in Queensland and it rapidly became a normal product of the larger meat preserving companies.
Organisations in Australian Science at Work - Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology; Carlton Brewery; Central Queensland Meat Preserving Company; CSIRO; Tarax Pty Ltd; Victoria Meat Preserving Company
People in Bright Sparcs - Casimir, D. 1; Tooth, Robert
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Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition pages 87 - 88, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/085.html