Numerous investigations on the factors affecting corrosion of
the tin can were carried out in various countries. Cruess (1948)
reported that acidity of fruit products accelerates tin plate corrosion.
Mesallam (1987) pointed out that the uptake of tin by canned
orange juice was related to type of container. It was found that, the
orange juices packed in tin cans contained significantly higher iron
contents than those packed in paper boxes or laminate pouches.
There have been number of studies reported in India which shows
that cooking in iron utensils increases the total and available iron
content of the food (Kakade & Agate, 1997; Reddy, Ingale &
Nalawade, 1997). Many of these studies reported in literature
(Arora, 2000) shows that addition of other components, such as
tomato or tamarind juice being acidic in nature might also be,
partially, responsible for increase in the available iron. The diversity
in environmental conditions in India could also be the reason to
affect the leaching ability of the elements from packaging materials.
However, there is paucity of information with respect to elemental
contents present in these canned foods marketed in India. Therefore,
in present study canned food products have been evaluated for
their elemental contents and correlated with their leaching ability
from packaging material under various storage conditions (viz. pH,
storage temperature and storage period). It helps to assess their
compliance with international recommendations and consumer
acceptance, based on physiological needs of consumer and environmental
or climatic conditions.