Kosher Encyclopedia

Kosher issues arising from different processes in canning vegetables:

1. Cleaning crops:

A golden rule of successful canning is that good, clean, and healthy vegetables are better canned, taste delicious, keep well, and sell better. Therefore, vegetables need to go through a rigorous process of inspection, cleaning, testing, and more cleaning and inspection to ensure that the prepared vegetables are of high quality.

Leafy greens are unique in that they need to be tested to determine if they are infested by insects. A common insect found on leafy greens is aphids.

Aphids are small, persistent predators that cling to vegetables. The hydrophobic bottle test was conducted on samples of leafy vegetables that had been spin washed, run washed, pressure washed, and blanched.

Two vegetables that commonly experience aphid problems are spinach and kale. Canning companies are constantly battling these predators. Through a combination of field control, the development of aphid-resistant spinach varieties, and aggressive cleaning efforts, the number of normal aphids in a hydrophobic bottle test was reduced to zero.

Preparing other vegetables for canning doesn't involve laboratory testing, but each canner uses its own unique method to remove foreign matter from fresh vegetables. A new electronic inspection system has been installed that automatically detects foreign matter before vegetables enter the factory for processing. Dust and foreign matter are shaken off as they pass through a blower. After the vegetables pass through the initial inspection system, they are ready for the next step in processing. Root vegetables are steamed, peeled, and scrubbed before being diced, sliced, and blanched.

2. Filling:

At this stage, the vegetables are ready for canning. Various systems interact to create the finished product. Empty cans are pre-cleaned and transported to the canning station, where they are filled with vegetables, brines, syrups, or sauces. Simple brines consist of water and salt. Candied vegetables are typically made with a mixture of water, corn syrup, and liquid sugar. Other vegetables are also seasoned with sauces. Sauces are often made with corn syrup, ketchup, seasonings, spices, vinegar, and oil. Sauces typically require careful kosher ingredient control. Some sauces are flavored with meat or chicken essences, while others use cheese.

3. Pressing vegetables:

The jars are now ready to be capped. The empty jars are filled and capped before being passed to the still. The still is a large, pressurized cooker that cooks the vegetables for a set time, creating a high-pressure, sterile environment inside the jars, killing any microorganisms that might spoil the vegetables.

Like any other machine, stills come in many varieties, ranging from simple to complex. A still still has six rotating racks and, when fully loaded, can distill over 25,000 cans at a time. Furthermore, today's stills may have two separate rack systems that move at different speeds. It's not uncommon for two vegetables to be distilled simultaneously in a still still. This is quite different from processing hundreds of cans in a basket still.

After retorting and cooling, the cans are palletized and stored until they are ready for labeling. This is known as "clear labeling." Because all cans look the same when unlabeled, each company has its own unique coding system, which is applied to the lids before they are put on the cans. For many years, it was common to emboss the lids with coded product and production information. Today, laser coding is rapidly replacing traditional, cumbersome embossing systems. Computerized laser printing is becoming more widely available and can be an effective tool for pre-coding labels as kosher, minimizing labeling errors.

To be continued, please refer to the document - "Jewish - Kosher Issues in Canned Vegetables 3"