Curious Comestibles in Cans Trivia Quiz

Answer: Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars is the name for a series of wars fought by the French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte between 1803 and 1815. Ensuring food supplies for troops was a vital logistical part of the wars and a lack of being able to preserve food made it difficult to continue campaigns through the winter. Nicolas Appert found that sealing food into glass jars and then heating it preserved the food inside.

Although he used glass jars rather than metal cans Appert is still considered by many to be the first to develop canning as he developed the technique of heating food in a sealed container which is the central principle behind storing food in cans.

Answer: London

The patent for preserving food using tin plated cans was granted to Peter Durand in London in 1811 however there is evidence that he was merely an agent for Girard who as a French citizen couldn't take out a patent in England while the two countries were at war. Girard came to London as he found it easier to conduct his experiments and attract investment which he did by offering his preserved food to members at the Royal Society.

Answer: True

This is true. Durand sold the patent for canning food for £1000 to the engineer Bryan Donkin who invested money from his papermaking business into producing canned food. After a couple of years spent refining the process for commercial use Donkin sent samples of his canned food to the British Royal Family for them to try. Donkin received praise from the Queen and Prince Regent which helped encourage others to try canned food including the admiralty who started using it to feed sailors on voyages.

Answer: False

This is false. Originally cans were large containers made from relatively thick metal and required the user to punch them open with a knife or, in the case of soldiers, a bayonet. This method of opening continued despite a can opener device being invented some years later when smaller, thinner walled cans were being made, however can openers didn't become popular until the modern two wheeled design was produced in the 1920s. Today many cans have a ring pull device on the lid which enables the can to be opened without the need for a separate can opener.

Answer: 1812

The first canning factory in the US was set up in New York City by Robert Ayars in 1812. Ayars used tin-plated iron cans to preserve many types of food including fruit, vegetables, meat and even oysters.

Answer: Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur was a French scientist who made major discoveries in microbiology and whose research helped promote the germ theory of diseases. The technique of pasteurization for preserving liquids such as milk and wine by heating them is named after Pasteur who developed the technique. By demonstrating that heat killed microbores and sealed containers prevented recontamination Pasteur explained the science which underpinned the techniques used for preserving food by canning.

Answer: 109

The Bertrand sank on 1 April 1865 in the Missouri River near Omaha in the state of Nebraska. The ship was used to transport cargo on the Missouri river. Some of the cargo that was on board when the ship sank was recovered in 1968 and is housed in a museum in the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa.

Some of this cargo included canned food which was tested by the National Food Processors Association in 1974 to see how well it had remained preserved after being in cans for over 100 years. The canned food had no signs of microbial growth so would be safe to eat although the smell, appearance and vitamin content had deteriorated.

Answer: Botulism

Although home canning can be a safe way of preserving food it is important that the process is carried out correctly otherwise the food will not be sterilised properly and bacteria can still grow. In 1931 in the US state of North Dakota twelve people died from botulism after eating improperly home canned food while an outbreak in Michigan in 1977 saw fifty nine people become ill with botulism after eating home canned jalapenos in a salsa at a restaurant. Botulism is an illness caused by toxins made by the clostridium botulinum bacteria.

The illness causes tiredness and muscle paralyses which can be fatal if the chest muscles are affected as this makes it impossible to breathe. Botulism can be treated with an antitoxin but even with treatment it is fatal in 5-10% of cases.

Answer: True

This is true. Modern industrialised canning facilities can safely seal over 2000 cans a minute whereas when Bryan Donkin first opened his canning factory he had a few employees who individually made six cans an hour. A modern factory making empty cans can make over nine million cans per day.

Answer: Campbell's

'Campbell's Soup Cans' is an artwork from 1962 by the American artist Andy Warhol. The work consists of thirty two individual canvases each featuring a painting of a can of Campbell's soup. Each canvas features a different flavour of soup as, at the time the artwork was created, Campbell's produced thirty two different flavours of canned soup.

Although the images look almost identical and the work was inspired by mass produced consumer goods each canvas was hand painted by Warhol.