Food Safety in the Past
Producers in the Past
Foods were packaged in containers which were impervious to
contamination: food-grade glass, ceramic, and metal. Canning factories used an
industrial pressure cooker or 'autoclave' for processing fruits such as apples.
Grocers and other food retailers kept their merchandise clean and separated.
Butchers used sawdust on the floor to enable the surface removal of contaminated
material from boots.
Slicing peaches for freezing in pint cartons, 1945
Canada Agriculture Museum: Agriculture Canada Collection
Various cartons for frozen foods, 1947
Canada Agriculture Museum: Agriculture Canada Collection
Workers peeling apples for processing in an autoclave at a Kentville, Nova Scotia canning factory, 1935
Canada Agriculture Museum: Agriculture Canada Collection
Amber Milk Bottle, ca. 1910
Artifact no. 1975.0791
Foods can spoil if exposed to sunlight, so some fragile items were put in containers made of amber-coloured glass. The idea was never very popular for fruit or milk.
Freezing and Drying
During the 1930s and 1940s, scientists at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa tested different ways of packaging frozen fruit and of dehydrating vegetables, while retaining their flavour. Sulphur was added to fruit to stop the growth of mold. Vegetables were blanched in hot water or steam. Once dry, the food was stored in airtight containers, usually cans, to protect it from insects.
Comparison of cabbage in fresh, loose, dried or compressed forms, 1942
Canada Agriculture Museum: Agriculture Canada Collection
“Lower Canada Maple Syrup” Tin, ca. 1900
J.S. Mitchell and Co., Sherbrooke, Quebec
Artifact no. 2001.0251
Metal packaging was a boon to food producers. It was less fragile than glass, and more hygienic than wood. The top, bottom and sides of this tin, however, are joined together with lead solder.
Taste-testing of dried vegetables, 1942
Canada Agriculture Museum: Agriculture Canada Collection
