Why Canning in Foodservice Actually Isn’t a Good Solution to Protect Recent Produce – FoodHandler®

Canning has lengthy been a trusted technique for preserving contemporary produce, providing a strategy to lengthen shelf life and reduce waste. I grew up canning backyard produce at residence with my household and to do that day, I nonetheless can salsas, meat broths, pickles, and different tomato merchandise for residence use. In truth, it’s a passion of mine that I get pleasure from endeavor – a lot to the chagrin of my spouse who merely tolerates my obsession to search out new, attention-grabbing, and secure canning recipes.

Canning has had a resurgence of kinds previously few years. Hundreds of movies on-line tackle the subject and fueled by the provision chain disruptions and rising meals costs we’ve seen because the pandemic in 2020, canning has turn into a preferred exercise as soon as once more. Residence canning is a good exercise – it permits people to protect the produce they develop or purchase regionally, reduces dependence on store-bought items, provides you better management over your meals provide and what goes into it, and fosters a way of independence and preparedness.

That mentioned, residence canning ought to keep simply that approach – within the residence. In a foodservice setting, we’ve seen elevated curiosity on this amongst cooks and managers as they give the impression of being to utilize farm-to-table or farm-to-school applications. Whereas it might be excellent for residence operations, canning contemporary produce in a foodservice setting is usually impractical and may result in inefficiencies and security dangers.

Canning may be very labor-intensive, requiring a number of steps. Upon getting the produce within the operation, you have to wash it, course of it, sterilize your jars, put together the product, fill the jars, after which lastly course of. Then, when you end processing you understand that a few of your jars didn’t seal, and all that work was for naught! In a foodservice setting the place effectivity is paramount, dedicating workers hours to such a tedious course of can disrupt operations. As an alternative of specializing in meals preparation and repair, workers could be tied up with canning, lowering total productiveness and profitability.

Most significantly, canning carries inherent meals security dangers. Improper canning can result in botulism, a severe and doubtlessly deadly sickness attributable to the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Even a small quantity of botulinum toxin could make somebody sick as a result of the toxin is so potent. Guaranteeing secure canning practices requires rigorous adherence to examined strategies, correct acidity ranges, and exact processing occasions. There’s little room for error, and the stakes are too excessive if security protocols are compromised.

From a regulatory standpoint, residence canned meals should not allowed in class meal applications per USDA FNS tips. If you’re one other retail foodservice operation, you possibly can solely partake in any such meals preservation strategies with the approval of your regulatory authority. On the very least, the FDA mannequin meals code would require that you’ve got a completely useful HACCP plan in place to obtain a variance to interact on this technique of meals preservation.

In closing, I’m a giant proponent of residence canned meals and encourage everybody to attempt it at the least as soon as…at residence being the important thing phrase. However it’s a completely different story in a foodservice operation the place you’re serving a whole lot, if not hundreds of visitors day by day. Hopefully, this dialogue will quell your want to implement canning in your foodservice operation. Whereas canning could look like an awesome advertising ploy and a strategy to protect contemporary produce, it’s removed from excellent within the foodservice trade. The time, labor, and security dangers related to canning far outweigh its advantages for a business operation. Danger Nothing.

Name out: Most significantly, canning carries inherent meals security dangers…there’s little room for error, and the stakes are too excessive if security protocols are compromised.