Canned Salmon...ella?

January 21, 2005 7:40 AM

I'm eating Bumble Bee brand pink salmon out of the can, seeing as how I don't know how or have the means to cook it. I'd like to know if I should worry about contracting salmonella from it, or anything. Thanks.
posted by jimmy to food & drink (24 comments total)

You'll be fine. It's not like that's raw fish in there. (If it's prepared like the tuna, it's steamed, actually.) Bumble Bee Co., Inc., would be eternally in the throes of lawsuits if they canned raw, salmonella-laced fish.
posted by Dr. Wu at 7:43 AM on January 21, 2005

It's already cooked, so unless the can's seal is broken somehow, you're fine. (In that case, anyway, your risk is much more about botulism than salmonella.)
posted by LairBob at 7:44 AM on January 21, 2005

All right, thanks. Fish is good.
posted by jimmy at 7:45 AM on January 21, 2005

_{Not to be alarmist, though...your risks of botulism, in this day and age, are pretty miniscule, and you can usually tell when a can's seal is broken, anyway.}
posted by LairBob at 7:45 AM on January 21, 2005

Avoid any can that has an unusual dent or bulge, whether you can see a broken seal or not.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:07 AM on January 21, 2005

CunningLinguist: Excuse my ignorance, but what does a dent or bulge signify?
posted by Alex Handcoding at 8:27 AM on January 21, 2005

That it's likely to have a broken seal (if it's a big dent), or if there's a bulge, that there are live bacteria inside generating gas. (Again, probably botulinum.)

Cans are packed under negative pressure (which is why they make that "thwoop" sound when you put the opener in)--there's no way a properly-sealed can should "bulge".
posted by LairBob at 8:34 AM on January 21, 2005

Your mother would have said you avoid dented cans because there could be a pinhole hidden in the dent, and it's more likely to have one if it's been dented, thus allowing germs in. If it has a pinhole, it may not bulge, because the hole lets the pressure out. Bulging cans are an indication there are bacteria working in there. The can was theoretically sterile inside when it was closed, and tiny microorganisms produce waste gases as a metabolic by-product, so bulging indicates pressure inside the can.

On preview, what LairBob said, he just types faster.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 8:36 AM on January 21, 2005

And if it goes "PSSSSSSHHHHHHT!!" when you open it, don't eat it.

Also, botulism requires a low pH, so things like green beans are at more risk than things like tomato sauce.
posted by jennyjenny at 8:39 AM on January 21, 2005

Oh. Well, it was dented.
posted by jimmy at 8:54 AM on January 21, 2005

Hey on the brightside... cheap botox.
posted by drpynchon at 9:26 AM on January 21, 2005

(As a side note, if you were wondering about salmonella because you were eating salmon - the disease was actually named after a doctor named Salmon, not salmon the fish. Salmonella contamination is more typically associated with eggs, meat, or vegetables, rather than fish, though it's not completely unheardof.)
posted by milkrate at 9:28 AM on January 21, 2005

How to cook canned salmon, Southern-style:

-- Drain water from a can or two of salmon; dump salmon in bowl
-- Chop a small onion very fine; toss into bowl with salmon
-- Add 1 egg to to salmon and onion; mix thoroughly with hands
-- Form gooey salmon-onion-egg mixture into small, thin patties
-- Dredge patties in flour or cornmeal
-- Fry in hot peanut oil until nicely browned.

Serve with coleslaw. Enjoy!
posted by enrevanche at 9:32 AM on January 21, 2005

Salmonella contamination is more typically associated with eggs, meat, or vegetables

Also, and less known, handling reptiles such as turtles.
posted by Miko at 9:36 AM on January 21, 2005

Dented cans are, in this day and age, almost always perfectly fine. The metal used to make them is much stronger and more resilient than decades ago.

But, people still avoid them like the plague because they don't "look perfect", so they often wind up in bargain aisles in the supermarket. Seek them out, and enjoy the savings.
posted by mkultra at 9:41 AM on January 21, 2005

not to pee on the parade, but a friend of mine worked in a salmon cannery in alaska a few years back. he said that you'd be aghast at the state of the fish that goes into the cans - it's definitely not very fresh. but that doesn't matter, because it's cooked after it's canned, so it's then "sterile" - but still kind of yucko. he won't eat the stuff since then.
posted by chr1sb0y at 9:53 AM on January 21, 2005

I had a friend in college who worked at salmon canneries in Alaska every summer*. She described the process as shove a large chunk of salmon in a can then cut off whatever doesn't fit. Then beat it down in the can with a mallet. Any gaps around the edge were filled in with "scrap". It then went to the canning machine (and yes, all canned food is cooked by the canning process).

She'd make enough in a summer to pay living expenses and tuition at a private u for most of the rest of the year. But she worked 18 hours a day (long days in summer that far north) and was ankle deep in fish and fish guts all day. Plus she had to sleep in a tent for the six hours she wasn't working.
posted by TimeFactor at 11:50 AM on January 21, 2005

chr1sb0y

because it's cooked after it's canned

It's cooked after it's canned? How do they do that?
posted by madman at 1:36 PM on January 21, 2005

It's cooked after it's canned? How do they do that?

Well, it's cooked after it's put into a can, but during the canning process. The canning process is 1) heat it up in a can, 2) put a lid on it, 3) let it cool down. The heating is what cooks it.
posted by kindall at 2:00 PM on January 21, 2005

CanningFilter. I spent the first five years of my career buying canned fruits and vegatables. Not one or two cans, but railroad cars and tractor tailers full of #10 cans. I have visited severl canning plants.

The retort canning proces is pretty simple. The food is usually blanched to partially cook it, then the cans are filled on an automatic filling line. The lids are added and sealed on a seamer. The finished cans are put in a metal crate type contraption, sort of like a metal pallet with sides, and loaded by forklift or crane hoist into a retort cooker. The cooker looks like the boiler of a steam engine, a large cylinder. The door is closed and the steam is turned on, raising the temperatue. Cook away! Sometimes a low-tech sort of temperature probe is added, in the form of a metal disc that changes color when the correct temperature is reached. The heat distributuon can be unevern, so it is often placed in the center of a stack.

The cans are removed, allowed to cool, and here goes the most important part - sit and incubate. You can't sell a can the day after you run it. After a suitable interval, the cans are submitted to the USDA rep for inspection. The reps are usually responsible for a small territory, but larger packers like Tri Valley Growers might have in house USDA. The USDA does lot inspection, so the sample size varies on the size of the production run, the product and the canners qulaity assurance history.

The USDA does can tear down, weighs the contents to see if the fill is correct, measures head space and perfoms can seam integrity tests. The cans are ofter "stacked bright" which means that they sit in a warehouse with no labels. When ACME, Piggly Wiggly whoever, drops an order the cans are lablelled, boxed and shipped. A big packer like Tri Valley Growers will have a warehouse full of labels ready to go.

Would you like to learn about retort pouches next? Same idea, except the pouck is a sandwich of nylo/foil/nylon, closed on three sides. Put the tuna or whatever in, seal and cook.
posted by fixedgear at 2:02 PM on January 21, 2005

Further to chr1sb0y's comment, I don't think anyone would eat anything if they got the inside scoop on it's production.

I worked in an upmarket bakery once, and there were a few things that happened behind the scenes that made me think twice.

`You dropped the whole tray of (whatever) all over the floor? Well, pick up the unbroken ones and arrange them neatly again.'

Most assuredly one of the tamer tales of food production unpleasantness.
posted by tomble at 2:32 PM on January 21, 2005

Fixedgear, thanks for that great insight! Retort pouches rock! Wether it be Canadian Forces ration packs, the ones you get in the more expensive asian instant noodles, or the fantastic indian food my dep (convenience store) carries. Compare Chicken korma for a a few dollars, versus $10 dollars for similar at the camping store.
posted by furtive at 9:47 PM on January 21, 2005

Eating pink salmon in any form should be considered as grounds for possible institutionalization.
posted by abcde at 11:09 PM on January 21, 2005

I don't think anyone would eat anything if they got the inside scoop on it's production

don't tell anyone this, but there's a rumor going around that vegetables are grown in dirt
posted by pyramid termite at 10:15 AM on January 22, 2005