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Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry (California Studies in Food and Culture)
2019 James Beard Foundation Book Award Reference, History, and Scholarship
A century and a half ago, when the food industry was first taking root, few consumers trusted packaged foods. Americans had just begun to shift away from eating foods that they grew themselves or purchased from neighbors. With the advent of canning, consumers were introduced to foods produced by unknown hands and packed in corrodible metal that seemed to defy the laws of nature by resisting decay.
Since that unpromising beginning, the American food supply has undergone a revolution, moving away from a system based on fresh, locally grown goods to one dominated by packaged foods. How did this come to be? How did we learn to trust that food preserved within an opaque can was safe and desirable to eat? Anna Zeide reveals the answers through the story of the canning industry, taking us on a journey to understand how food industry leaders leveraged the powers of science, marketing, and politics to win over a reluctant public, even as consumers resisted at every turn.
A century and a half ago, when the food industry was first taking root, few consumers trusted packaged foods. Americans had just begun to shift away from eating foods that they grew themselves or purchased from neighbors. With the advent of canning, consumers were introduced to foods produced by unknown hands and packed in corrodible metal that seemed to defy the laws of nature by resisting decay.
Since that unpromising beginning, the American food supply has undergone a revolution, moving away from a system based on fresh, locally grown goods to one dominated by packaged foods. How did this come to be? How did we learn to trust that food preserved within an opaque can was safe and desirable to eat? Anna Zeide reveals the answers through the story of the canning industry, taking us on a journey to understand how food industry leaders leveraged the powers of science, marketing, and politics to win over a reluctant public, even as consumers resisted at every turn.
280 pages, Hardcover
Published March 6, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 17, 2019
Frustratingly general, overall. If you've already read a lot of 20th-century food history, the contours of this will be greatly familiar and not necessarily worth going over again; the most interesting chapter for me was the one that discussed the California canning industry's response to botulism in 1919-1920. I realize Zeide did research in trade association archives, but even the information that seemed to come from those felt sterilized (sorry), as if what she was able to discover came from things like meeting minutes and correspondence - solely what the members and employees of those organizations were willing to record and preserve.
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August 17, 2019My grandfather said of canning sweet corn in the Nineteen-Teens in Illinois,
June 2, 2018
“Canned food was the first nationally marketed processed, packaged food. Understanding how canners cultivated trust in this new kind of food gives us a sense of the building blocks of our modern food system.”
This was a really interesting book about the initial challenges canners faced with public distrust, botulism outbreaks and government regulation. I found the advertising section about Campbell’s soup especially fascinating! I love how Zeide points out our changing attitudes towards canned food. They were once a symbol of modernity but are now seen as poverty food. The author raises lots of thoughtful, multifaceted questions about the role of canned food in the future without blatantly forcing the reader to one simple conclusion.
This was a really interesting book about the initial challenges canners faced with public distrust, botulism outbreaks and government regulation. I found the advertising section about Campbell’s soup especially fascinating! I love how Zeide points out our changing attitudes towards canned food. They were once a symbol of modernity but are now seen as poverty food. The author raises lots of thoughtful, multifaceted questions about the role of canned food in the future without blatantly forcing the reader to one simple conclusion.
August 12, 2018
An interesting look at the history of the canned food industry and the creation of regulations about food safety. We rarely had canned stuff in the pantry growing up because my parents were too cheap and too concerned about sodium counts in processed foods. These days my canned food staples are mostly limited to beans and corn for making soups, but I never thought too much about why it is that I buy frozen fruits and vegetables instead of canned (apart from it being easier to portion out).
March 10, 2018
A great, accessible history of canned food in the United States that illuminates how the food industry won, and then lost, consumers' trust in processed foods. Review conversation link to come soon!
February 22, 2021
Few people these days haven’t tasted canned food, but have you ever considered its origins? Tin cans versus glass jars? The science of safe canning? Anna Zeide did in her new book Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry. Tracking the rise of commercially canned foods in America from the condensed milk of the Civil War to modern concerns about bisphenol-A (BPA), Zeide puts canned goods firmly in historical context – connecting them to changes in technology, agricultural science, medicine, politics, and social changes.
On the surface, the book is about the safety of canned goods; Zeide studies the roles of lead poisoning, spoilage, botulism, mercury in canned fish, and the 21st century issue of bisphenol-A (BPA) contamination in shaping consumer use of and confidence in canned goods. The chapters are arranged as case studies and are outlined in chronological order. The introduction outlines the history of canning technology (and safety) before moving on to condensed milk in the post-Civil War era and the rise of chemical additives and improvements in canning technology. The chapter on canned peas in the 1910s discusses the relationship between canners, agricultural research, and vertical integration of farming with vegetable varieties bred to be canned, embracing agricultural grading. The chapter on canned ripe olives addresses the threat of botulism in the 1920s, and how the canning industry resisted regulation and attempted to place the blame on careless home canners. The chapter on canned tomatoes in the 1930s outlines how canners resisted grading of canned goods, even as they embraced it for their own suppliers, and attempted to read the mind of “Mrs. Consumer,” now an economic force to be reckoned with. The chapter canned tuna and mercury contamination in the 1970s chronicles the rise of processed food more broadly, the expansion of canners beyond canned food, and the backlash against artificial ingredients, pesticides, and other contaminants in canned goods and industrial food. Finally, Zeide ends with a discussion of consumer fears about BPA in Campbell’s canned soups in the 2010s, and Campbell’s attempts to cover up health concerns even as it tried to appeal to a new, food-savvy generation of consumers.
As you can probably tell, beneath the study of the relationship between consumers and food processors is the real meat of the book – on regulation of the industry. At first, early canners were happy to work with government regulators to prove themselves worthy in a crowded and competitive market. And access to agricultural colleges for crop research and federal food safety research were benefits they were only too happy to embrace. But as food processors consolidated and the 20th century wore on, canners became increasingly resistant to government regulation, oversight, and transparency. So much so that by the 2010s when Campbell’s Soup was confronted with consumer concerns about the endocrine disrupting BPA, they closed ranks and denied any safety concerns. But, despite promises to end the use of BPA in can liners and even as it hopped on other bandwagons such as the labeling of genetically modified foods, as of 2016 Campbell’s had yet to replace BPA in their cans.
Zeide concludes the book by outlining why government regulation and collective action is more effective in maintaining food safety than the industry’s beloved individual action. Throughout the book, food processors claim that “Mrs. Consumer” can choose for herself which brands are the safest and highest quality, but that ignores circumstances beyond consumer control, such as the case study Zeide cites in which consumers fed on a diet devoid of canned goods and full of locally produced whole foods actually saw their BPA levels increase, likely due to the use of BPA in plastics used as part of the even minimal food processing, such as in the milking industry or in the production of spices in other countries (p. 183). Ultimately, Zeide tries to place canned goods briefly in context in the conclusion – that access to canned fruits and vegetables gave a whole subset of Americans access to nutrients they might not have had access to before, and that emotional responses to the foods of our childhoods will give canned goods longevity.
Although at various places throughout the book Zeide makes mention of potential class issues surrounding canned goods, and the assumptions of canners that “Mrs. Consumer” was white and middle class, a more thorough examination of class and race in the context of canned goods would have made this book even stronger, especially considering the emphasis on consumer marketing. However, despite this omission, Canned is ultimately a strong addition to food historiography and I applaud Zeide for her detailed work and her ability to place events and people in context, drawing connections and conclusions that are well supported by her research.
This review was published in the Agricultural History journal, spring, 2020.
On the surface, the book is about the safety of canned goods; Zeide studies the roles of lead poisoning, spoilage, botulism, mercury in canned fish, and the 21st century issue of bisphenol-A (BPA) contamination in shaping consumer use of and confidence in canned goods. The chapters are arranged as case studies and are outlined in chronological order. The introduction outlines the history of canning technology (and safety) before moving on to condensed milk in the post-Civil War era and the rise of chemical additives and improvements in canning technology. The chapter on canned peas in the 1910s discusses the relationship between canners, agricultural research, and vertical integration of farming with vegetable varieties bred to be canned, embracing agricultural grading. The chapter on canned ripe olives addresses the threat of botulism in the 1920s, and how the canning industry resisted regulation and attempted to place the blame on careless home canners. The chapter on canned tomatoes in the 1930s outlines how canners resisted grading of canned goods, even as they embraced it for their own suppliers, and attempted to read the mind of “Mrs. Consumer,” now an economic force to be reckoned with. The chapter canned tuna and mercury contamination in the 1970s chronicles the rise of processed food more broadly, the expansion of canners beyond canned food, and the backlash against artificial ingredients, pesticides, and other contaminants in canned goods and industrial food. Finally, Zeide ends with a discussion of consumer fears about BPA in Campbell’s canned soups in the 2010s, and Campbell’s attempts to cover up health concerns even as it tried to appeal to a new, food-savvy generation of consumers.
As you can probably tell, beneath the study of the relationship between consumers and food processors is the real meat of the book – on regulation of the industry. At first, early canners were happy to work with government regulators to prove themselves worthy in a crowded and competitive market. And access to agricultural colleges for crop research and federal food safety research were benefits they were only too happy to embrace. But as food processors consolidated and the 20th century wore on, canners became increasingly resistant to government regulation, oversight, and transparency. So much so that by the 2010s when Campbell’s Soup was confronted with consumer concerns about the endocrine disrupting BPA, they closed ranks and denied any safety concerns. But, despite promises to end the use of BPA in can liners and even as it hopped on other bandwagons such as the labeling of genetically modified foods, as of 2016 Campbell’s had yet to replace BPA in their cans.
Zeide concludes the book by outlining why government regulation and collective action is more effective in maintaining food safety than the industry’s beloved individual action. Throughout the book, food processors claim that “Mrs. Consumer” can choose for herself which brands are the safest and highest quality, but that ignores circumstances beyond consumer control, such as the case study Zeide cites in which consumers fed on a diet devoid of canned goods and full of locally produced whole foods actually saw their BPA levels increase, likely due to the use of BPA in plastics used as part of the even minimal food processing, such as in the milking industry or in the production of spices in other countries (p. 183). Ultimately, Zeide tries to place canned goods briefly in context in the conclusion – that access to canned fruits and vegetables gave a whole subset of Americans access to nutrients they might not have had access to before, and that emotional responses to the foods of our childhoods will give canned goods longevity.
Although at various places throughout the book Zeide makes mention of potential class issues surrounding canned goods, and the assumptions of canners that “Mrs. Consumer” was white and middle class, a more thorough examination of class and race in the context of canned goods would have made this book even stronger, especially considering the emphasis on consumer marketing. However, despite this omission, Canned is ultimately a strong addition to food historiography and I applaud Zeide for her detailed work and her ability to place events and people in context, drawing connections and conclusions that are well supported by her research.
This review was published in the Agricultural History journal, spring, 2020.
September 5, 2019
Very well researched (50 pages of notes for 200 pages of content!) and well laid out.
For the first few chapters I could read a handful of pages at a time, but by the last chapter and a half (1960s—modern 2010s) I was able to read without putting it down.
Zeide traces the history of canned food and it was interesting to see how interconnected the industry is with the regulating body (FDA) and how that came about.
While I don’t agree 100% with the conclusion drawn at the end, I appreciate that she presents it as a multi-faceted problem without a simple solution. And I also want to buy all glass containers for leftovers now, rather than plastic. 😂
For the first few chapters I could read a handful of pages at a time, but by the last chapter and a half (1960s—modern 2010s) I was able to read without putting it down.
Zeide traces the history of canned food and it was interesting to see how interconnected the industry is with the regulating body (FDA) and how that came about.
While I don’t agree 100% with the conclusion drawn at the end, I appreciate that she presents it as a multi-faceted problem without a simple solution. And I also want to buy all glass containers for leftovers now, rather than plastic. 😂
January 27, 2021
We are what we eat
A tour de force coverage of almost 200 years of commercial food and its origins and impact, this wonderful book tells all. It makes us think while we chew. Highly recommended
A tour de force coverage of almost 200 years of commercial food and its origins and impact, this wonderful book tells all. It makes us think while we chew. Highly recommended
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews