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We eat more baked beans in Britain
than anywhere else on Earth.

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Every day, we consume
over two million cans of them.

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That takes hundreds
of sacks of beans -

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like this.

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Tonight, we're going to tell
the truly extraordinary story

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behind an ordinary can of beans.

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By taking you inside the biggest
food factory in Europe.

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I'm Gregg Wallace.

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That's a tin of beans, innit?

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..and I'll be revealing the secrets

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of this astonishing
production line...

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A billion beans is going
to go through here

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and a laser is going to
look at every single bean?

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..and the science
behind the magic...

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That is mega-strong.

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That's quite incredible. That is
simply that with ripples in it.

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..turning a humble little bean
into one of the 300,000 tonnes

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of baked beans we eat every year.

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Mate, what it takes to give
us beans on toast, eh?

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I'm Cherry Healey.

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I'll show you the incredible journey
your recycled tin can goes on

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in order to make it
back to your pantry.

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God, it's so hot.

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Bits of it are just falling
off as it rolls away.

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Historian Ruth Goodman
discovers that tinned food

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was once a matter of life and death.

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Malnutrition had killed more
than half of the British seamen.

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Three million cans of baked beans

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will roll out of this one factory
in the next 24 hours.

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And this is the incredible
story of how they do it.

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Welcome to Inside The Factory.

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This is the Heinz factory in Wigan.

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It works around the clock
with 1,200 staff

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to make 200 different products,

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including spaghetti, soup and
its biggest seller - baked beans.

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They come in all sorts of
varieties and containers,

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like plastic resealable jars

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and individual portion pots
for the microwave.

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But tonight, we're making
the traditional bestseller -

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baked beans in a can.

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Each bean will go on

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an incredible mile and a half
journey through this factory...

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..before they are packaged and ready
to head to your local supermarket

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less than 24 hours later.

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The factory in Wigan is enormous...

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..covering 54 acres, five times
the size of Wembley Stadium.

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It's the largest food-processing
plant in Europe...

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..and the biggest baked bean
factory on the planet.

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Bringing in the beans is
ingredients inspector John Brady.

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Right, John, that's it,
that's our load of beans, yeah?

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Yep. First one of the morning?

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Yep. Come on, then.

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Oi! How many of these come
in every day?

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About 20.

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Right, I'll loop it back.

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Come on, then.
Let's have a look at this.

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I did not expect that.

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I don't know why,
I just didn't expect that.

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How many of those big bags on there?

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Ten in total, two tonne in weight.

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Ten two-tonne bags of beans!

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Driver, we're ready.

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Overseeing the arrival of the beans
is operations manager Gary Dent.

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We typically take in 12
to 14 containers a day.

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We'll do 50,000 tonne a year,

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but when you consider we'll make

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over three million
cans of beans a day,

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that's why we need so many beans.

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Three million cans of beans a day?
Oh, yeah, easy.

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Yeah. Three million cans of beans
rolling out of here? Yes.

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Forgive me, but what bean
is in a tin of beans?

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That's them, Gregg.
They're haricot beans.

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I really love it that
we eat so many of these,

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yet we probably
don't know their name.

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We probably don't know
what they are!

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No, these are haricot beans.

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Haricot beans start life in a pod.

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They're grown throughout the summer
months and left to dry on the plant.

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The beans I'm following come
from North America,

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where the climate provides
the perfect growing conditions.

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Every week, 1,000 tonnes of beans

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are loaded into containers and
shipped to the Port of Liverpool.

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Then they're trucked the final
20 miles here to the factory.

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So, these little things.

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Yep. How long, roughly, before
they become a tin of beans?

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You could see a finished tin
of beans within two hours.

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I suppose it is possible for me to
see every single stage

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of this process, isn't it?
It certainly is, Gregg.

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And maybe taste a few at the end?
Oh, without doubt.

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The bags of beans are brought out
of their shipping containers

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and into the factory at bean intake.

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This is where the baked bean
production line begins.

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In just 24 hours, these beans could
be in a can on a supermarket shelf.

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Each two-tonne bag is carefully
positioned above a funnel.

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When the bag is opened,

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the beans drop onto
an enclosed conveyor

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that takes them to the first
stage of processing.

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Could I have a go at that?

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Certainly.

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Don't go anywhere, Gary, cos if it
falls over, I'm blaming you.

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Each bag contains 9.5 million
individual beans,

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enough to fill more
than 20,000 cans.

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That's a lot of beans
to drop, Gregg.

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Whoa!

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That was a bit tense, that, Gary.

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Yep. Right, now pull that.

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There they go. Yeah!

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My dry beans are travelling
to the blanching room,

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which is 200m away
from the intake area

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to prevent contamination
from the outside world.

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They move at 5mph
on an enclosed conveyor

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and it takes five minutes
for the first beans to arrive.

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Here, they'll be rehydrated.

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OK, Gregg, we're now going to see
how we rehydrate our dry beans.

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What we've got here is the dry beans
that you loaded up for us

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about five minutes ago.

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They've now reached the blancher

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and this is where we put the
water back into that dry bean.

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In the blanching process,

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they pass through two 85-degree
Celsius steam-heated chambers,

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each soaking the beans
for ten minutes.

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Time and temperature are key
in the rehydration process.

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You're not boiling them up to cook
them. No. You're putting water
in for 20 minutes,

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85 degrees to get moisture back in.

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Exactly. Hydrate.

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Rehydrate. Exactly that.

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Blanching in steam quickly softens
the outside of the dry bean

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and lets in water.

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Over about a 25-minute period,

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these will have taken up around
about 65% more water.

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That's the before and after.

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They've swollen up incredibly.

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Yep. But not cooked.

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Not cooked. If you want
to try one, you can,

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but they're certainly not cooked.

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It's just got a bit of give,

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but in the middle, it's as hard as,
like, an uncooked risotto. Yeah.

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I quite like them. You got any salt?

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The rehydrated beans
are washed in warm water

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to get rid of any loose skins.

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Finally, the laser sorter actually
detects any discoloured beans

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and rejects them with an air jet.

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HE LAUGHS
Honestly, yeah. Really?

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Yes. Really?

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OK, go on, then.

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20 years ago, there would be people
flicking the beans off with spoons,

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but now we use the laser sorter.

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There are two lasers - one above
and one below the beans -

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that examine them from every angle.

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A laser spots a discoloured bean

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and fires an air jet that knocks
it off the production line.

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The puffing noise that you
hear is the gun firing

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and knocking the beans off.

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Every one of those little clicks is
a jet of air and a bean dying.

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It's BEAN rejected.

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A has-BEAN!
A has-BEAN, very good.

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So, when I open a tin of beans,

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this laser has had a look at
the bean that I'm going to eat.

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Absolutely. Yep.

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Within the next couple of hours,

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these will be in a can, ready
to head to a supermarket.

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And while I follow the beans,

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Cherry is looking at the
other essential element

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in a can of baked beans -
the can itself.

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Mmm!

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This tin of baked beans is about
to go on an incredible journey.

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Not the beans - I've just
finished those -

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but the tin itself will go through
an extraordinary process

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to end up back in someone
else's cupboard.

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It all begins the moment you throw
it in the recycling bin.

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Did I just get that in?

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In most major cities, you can throw
all of your recycling into one bag,

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but how is it all sorted
to make sure that my tin can

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ends up in the right place?

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You do it with one of these - what's
lovingly known as the murf -

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materials recovery facility.

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And it's one of the largest
of its kind in the world.

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At this recycling centre
in east London,

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their murf sorts 520
truckloads every week.

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My guide through it all
is David Rumble.

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Wow! That is a monster machine.

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It looks like teeth
grinding everything.

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What is this actually doing?

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Well, this is actually separating
out into three different sizes -

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very big, which just rolls
over the top,

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medium size, which is where
a steel can goes.

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and then very small, which is broken
glass and shredded paper.

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There goes your can,
you can see it there.

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There it is, there it is.

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00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:11,640
Once it's all separated
into different sizes,

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00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,080
it moves on to be sorted by shape.

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00:11:15,560 --> 00:11:17,880
Flat objects like paper
and cardboard

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00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:19,800
travel along the top of the wheels.

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While the rest, including my can,

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drop through and are collected
at the bottom.

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So, it's a matter of surface area?

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00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:29,920
Absolutely, yes.

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00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:31,400
Surface area and physics.

199
00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,040
Now that it's been sorted
by size and shape,

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00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,440
it needs some hi-tech equipment
to separate it further.

201
00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,760
This is the near infrared
optical separator

202
00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:49,920
and what this is doing is taking
plastic off of the belt,

203
00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,360
so we're actually pulling out EET,

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00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,480
which is the clear plastic
drinks bottles.

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00:11:56,480 --> 00:12:00,960
A sensor in the separator detects
how much light is passing through

206
00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:04,040
or reflecting off
the different materials

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00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:06,240
so it can spot
the clear plastic bottles

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00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:08,760
and they get blown off the belt.

209
00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,800
Can it really be that detailed that
it can see an individual bottle?

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00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:13,840
Absolutely.

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00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:17,600
Finally, my steel can is picked up

212
00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,800
and separated from
the aluminium drinks cans.

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00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:25,600
This is an electromagnet that'll
lift the can off of the belt,

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00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:28,640
move it over above a bin
and then drop it off.

215
00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:32,920
So, once the tin has been dropped by
the magnet, where does it go then?

216
00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:34,960
It goes to the baler,

217
00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,560
where we make it into a big
square bale of ferrous metal.

218
00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:44,000
The baling machine crushes
up to 40,000 tin cans

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00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:47,520
into one single cube,
each weighing one tonne.

220
00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:51,960
This one includes my can.

221
00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:55,920
I'm now going to take this lot off
to one of the largest steelworks

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00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:59,200
in the UK for a bit of a rough time.

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00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:11,040
Back at the factory, it's been 25
minutes since my dried beans arrived

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00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:13,160
and now they've been rehydrated.

225
00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:18,880
To make baked beans, every
manufacturer uses haricot beans,

226
00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:22,240
but they all create their
own particular tomato sauce.

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00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:27,840
Here at Heinz, their special
ingredients are prepared

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00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:29,600
in the spice-mixing area.

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00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:35,200
The recipe is classified
information,

230
00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:37,040
and making sure it stays that way

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00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,480
is manufacturing coordinator
Paul Sherrington.

232
00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:45,120
This is where we make up the secret
spices what makes the beans famous.

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00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:47,680
What do you mean "the secret
spices"? A secret no-one knows.

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00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:50,000
Only two people in the world
know about these spices.

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00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:52,920
Who do you think you are, James
Bond? Yes. Mate, get out of it!

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00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,680
The ingredients are listed
on the label of a can of beans,

237
00:13:57,680 --> 00:14:00,520
but because no recipe
can be copyrighted,

238
00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,920
the exact proportions they
use are a trade secret

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00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,960
known only by the head buyer
and the chief quality officer.

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00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:13,480
The secret spice recipe has
stayed the same since 1896...

241
00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,720
..and is delivered to the factory
as three anonymous powder mixes.

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00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:20,640
What are they? I don't know.

243
00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,280
You honestly don't know what they
are? Honestly, I don't know.

244
00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,280
I can taste these, though,
can't I, cos I...

245
00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:29,280
Indeed, yes. ..I might be able
to work out what's in it?

246
00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:32,080
But if you do, then
we'll have to kill you.

247
00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:34,960
Surely working out what's
in the three different mixes

248
00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:37,000
shouldn't be too hard.

249
00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:38,040
Oh!

250
00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,800
They're so strong.

251
00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:43,120
You've got a saucy one...

252
00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:45,920
..a peppered chilli one

253
00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:48,920
and a sweet, garlicky one.

254
00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:50,720
Do you know what
I conclude from that?

255
00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:53,080
I haven't got a clue.

256
00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:55,960
HE LAUGHS
Nice one!

257
00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:58,240
Paul doesn't know
the exact ingredients,

258
00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:01,320
but he does know how much
of each mix to measure out

259
00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:03,480
for our bag of spices.

260
00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:05,920
What quantity of tomato
are we going to add this to?

261
00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:09,840
We're going to add to a batch
which is five tonne in weight.

262
00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,880
And how many tins will that make,
roughly? Approximately 20,000.

263
00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:16,400
20,000 from this little bag? Yes.

264
00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:18,000
No wonder my lips were tingling.

265
00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:23,920
I'm taking my bag of secret spices
next door to the sauce room...

266
00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:29,800
..where sauce operator Peter Foster
is ready to mix up a batch.

267
00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,240
Hello, mate. Hello, mate.

268
00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:33,640
I've got some spice.

269
00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:34,680
Right.

270
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:36,960
What is this room?

271
00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:38,440
It's the sauce room.

272
00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:39,680
You control the spice.

273
00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:43,080
I control the pump,
the water, boilers.

274
00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,200
You're the chef.

275
00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,400
Well, you could say so.

276
00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,920
Peter is in charge
of eight mixing bowls,

277
00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:55,000
each one holding enough sauce
for 20,000 tins of beans.

278
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:58,760
You are mixing and cooking
the tomatoes, the water,

279
00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:01,400
the starch, the sugar. Yep.

280
00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:03,440
And the secret ingredient.
Yes, that's the one.

281
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:05,040
Do you know what
the ingredients are?

282
00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:06,360
No.

283
00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,360
Mate, do you? Believe me,
there's only two people who know.

284
00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,880
So I've heard.

285
00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:16,880
Now for the tomato puree,
which comes in one-tonne bags.

286
00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:20,320
Two rollers squeeze out
every drop of the puree,

287
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:24,120
which has been made from Californian
tomatoes that have been cooked,

288
00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:27,080
blended and sieved
to remove the seeds.

289
00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,560
It's then pumped through
pipes into the kitchen.

290
00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,200
There's your tomato pulp. Oh!

291
00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,280
Then, I add my bag of spices.

292
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:44,600
This is just like adding
a stock cube at home.

293
00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,600
With the press of a button, Peter
adds starch to thicken the sauce.

294
00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,160
The sugar and salt are blown
through pipes into the mixer.

295
00:16:55,320 --> 00:17:01,120
Each 415g can contains just
under five teaspoons of sugar

296
00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,440
and almost half a teaspoon of salt.

297
00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:07,320
Then some vinegar, but they
won't tell me how much -

298
00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:08,400
it's a secret.

299
00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:14,160
And finally, it's all blended
in the giant food-mixer.

300
00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:16,840
Don't you think it might be
a little bit too technical

301
00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:19,520
for an old-fashioned tin of beans?

302
00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:21,800
We make the best beans
so that's what we do.

303
00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:25,240
After 15 minutes,
the sauce is ready.

304
00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:30,640
That's a tin of beans, innit?

305
00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:31,760
It's a tin of beans.

306
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:36,680
Our tomato sauce is on its way
to get mixed with the beans.

307
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,400
Next, we're going to need some cans.

308
00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,840
They can make up to four
million baked bean cans

309
00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:44,320
in this factory every day,

310
00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:46,800
and, for that,
you need a lot of steel.

311
00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:54,400
I followed my old tin can
from the recycling plant

312
00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,120
to Tata Steel in Port Talbot, Wales.

313
00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:02,080
This is the largest
steelworks in the UK,

314
00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:06,720
which recently hit the headlines
when its future came under threat.

315
00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:11,800
In six hours, my can will be part
of a brand-new sheet of steel.

316
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:23,880
Here, scrap metal makes up about
a quarter of the finished steel,

317
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:30,880
and so my old recycled tin can is
about to be combined with this -

318
00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:32,560
raw iron ore.

319
00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:37,120
It's been mined from rocks
as far away as Australia.

320
00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:43,760
To make steel, the iron ore is
tipped into a blast furnace,

321
00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,840
mixed with a type
of coal called coke

322
00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,400
and heated to over 2,000 degrees.

323
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:53,640
The result is almost
pure molten iron,

324
00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:58,040
which is poured into brick-lined
steel vessels called torpedoes

325
00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:01,640
and shunted across the yard
to the most incredible place

326
00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:03,160
I've ever set foot in.

327
00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:08,640
Whoa!

328
00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,880
That is absolutely unbelievable!

329
00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:20,000
Here, my tin can, along with
the rest of the scrap metal,

330
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,400
is being loaded into a huge skip.

331
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:27,160
Tim Rutter talks me
through the process.

332
00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:28,520
Two things are going to happen -

333
00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,000
firstly, the scrap metal
is going to come along

334
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,720
and be charged into the mouth.

335
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,160
Which is there. Which is coming
down the bay as we speak.

336
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:37,720
So, that's scrap metal and how much
scrap metal is in there?

337
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,680
There's anything between 50
and 100 tonnes of scrap metal,

338
00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:44,080
maybe the equivalent of up
to two million steels cans

339
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,080
will be in that charging vessel.
Whoa, so my tin can

340
00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:48,960
could potentially be in there,

341
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:54,360
and that scrap metal is going to go
into the mouth of the cauldron.

342
00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:56,440
And what is over there?

343
00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,200
Here you can see the
ladle full of molten iron.

344
00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,600
So, we've just come from the blast
furnace where that's been made.

345
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:06,000
It's now in a ladle and that's ready
to charge on top of the scrap

346
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:07,640
in the steel-making vessel.

347
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:13,320
From behind the safety of a concrete
wall, we can watch the action.

348
00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:19,200
First, the scrap metal is tipped
into the 12m-high cauldron.

349
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:30,320
The whole building is shaking.

350
00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:37,480
Then, 300 tonnes of molten iron
is poured on top.

351
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:40,920
Wow!

352
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:48,440
Finally, pure oxygen is pumped
in at supersonic speed.

353
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:57,320
The powerful reaction causes the
mixture to heat up to 1,700 degrees.

354
00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,840
Carbon and other impurities
turn into a gas,

355
00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:03,920
leaving behind the steel
we need to make cans.

356
00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:11,120
How many tins of baked beans
am I looking at right now?

357
00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:15,440
If you estimate that we're making
about 320 tonnes of steel,

358
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,960
then that maybe makes about,
say, eight million cans.

359
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,240
Eight million cans!

360
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,560
The new steel is poured into
a water-cooled mould

361
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,760
to reduce the temperature
to 900 degrees Celsius

362
00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:34,240
and turn it into a slab
that weighs around 30 tonnes.

363
00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:41,520
God, it's so hot that bits of it are
just falling off as it rolls away.

364
00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:45,440
That's absolutely amazing.

365
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:50,120
Before the slab of steel can be
made into a baked bean can,

366
00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:52,360
it needs to be a lot thinner,

367
00:21:52,360 --> 00:21:57,120
so it enters this kilometre and a
half-long hall to be compressed.

368
00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:02,120
It passes through
a series of rollers

369
00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:05,560
exerting almost 4,000
tonnes of force,

370
00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:07,880
which make it longer and thinner.

371
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,480
Oh, wow! So it's being rolled up
into a huge coil.

372
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:16,640
You can really feel
that intense heat.

373
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:20,280
The steel is constantly
cooled with water

374
00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,600
and it's at a temperature just
low enough to hold its shape.

375
00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:29,960
A second set of rollers
transforms the 60m-long coil

376
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:33,240
into a kilometre-long
length of sheet steel.

377
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:39,480
That sheet steel is moving
at an unbelievable speed.

378
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,640
30 to 40mph.

379
00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,520
Five minutes later, the steel
is coiled up for the last time.

380
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:54,480
It starts off with a slab
that's about ten metres long,

381
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:58,560
and by the time we've squashed
it down to 2mm-thick,

382
00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:01,480
that is about 1km of steel.

383
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:07,920
Once it's rolled up into
that amazingly neat roll,

384
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:09,760
where does it go next?

385
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:11,680
So, the next place for
this coil to go

386
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:13,640
will be our sister plant
in Trostre,

387
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,320
who's going to cold roll it
to make it even thinner

388
00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:20,120
and coat it with tin before they
pass it on to Heinz, our customer,

389
00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:21,560
to make baked bean cans.

390
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:28,040
So, this product is still steel and,
later on, it becomes a tin can.

391
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:29,600
Well, people call it a tin can,

392
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,760
but of course it's a steel can
that's got a coating of tin on it.

393
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:37,600
It seems unfair. I'll call it
a steel can from now on.

394
00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:38,640
Excellent.

395
00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,560
Coating the steel can
with tin creates a barrier

396
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:48,040
to stop air, water and beans
touching the surface of the steel.

397
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:53,720
It prevents the can from rusting
and will protect the beans inside.

398
00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,320
Finally, the coated steel
is cut into sheets

399
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,960
and trucked off to
the factory in Wigan,

400
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:06,720
where it could find its way to your
kitchen cupboard within a few days.

401
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,360
So, next time you open
your tin of beans,

402
00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:14,560
spare a thought for
the unbelievable engineering

403
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:16,560
that's gone into making it.

404
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:24,840
Back at the factory,

405
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:29,480
it's been 45 minutes since
my dried haricot beans arrived.

406
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:32,480
They've been blanched
to rehydrate them

407
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,080
and my tomato sauce has been mixed.

408
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,240
Now I need something
to put it all in.

409
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,520
Heinz have their own can-making
factory here on-site.

410
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,920
Every day, 168 tonnes
of steel arrives,

411
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,720
enough to make more than
five million cans.

412
00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:58,600
The engineer in charge
is Darren Maloney.

413
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:02,520
This is the steel
that Cherry sent over.

414
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:07,520
Yeah. I want to see how we make
this into cans for baked beans.

415
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:08,640
That's fine.

416
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,400
Well, we buy the sheet steel
in one-metre-square sheets,

417
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,120
approximately.

418
00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:17,400
The sheets of steel are fed into a
machine that cuts them into strips.

419
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:21,640
So, we slit it that way
into long strips.

420
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,680
Then we slit it this way
into the final blank.

421
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,800
Wow! It's now cut into 16 of those.

422
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:32,400
How many tins will that now make?

423
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:33,440
Two.

424
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:37,000
The transfer system collects them

425
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:38,800
and takes them to
the welding machine.

426
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:40,680
It's taking about 100 at once.

427
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:42,080
It's taking more than 100.

428
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:43,960
It's taking 240 at a time.

429
00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:49,200
It's like one of those funfair games
where you have to grab the toy.

430
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:50,840
In a fraction of a second,

431
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:54,240
each steel strip is bent
round to form a cylinder

432
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:57,200
with the edges overlapping
by just half a millimetre.

433
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,000
In a process called
resistance welding,

434
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,600
two electrodes heat up
the steel edges,

435
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,360
melting them and joining
them together.

436
00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:09,240
Heats it up, sticks it together.
Yes.

437
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:11,520
It's now the right shape for a can,

438
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,280
but it's big enough to make two,

439
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,080
so the cylinders travel across
the room on conveyors

440
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:21,000
and into a machine which
finally turns it into a can.

441
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,840
Well, this part of the kit rotates.

442
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:27,520
It basically splits it in two.

443
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:29,600
Does it go like that?

444
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:31,000
Yes.

445
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:32,040
Rips it in half.

446
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:39,320
That doesn't seem anywhere
as strong as a finished tin can.

447
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:41,640
I mean, I can't do that
with my can of beans.

448
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:44,920
We put the ripples on the can
to make the can strong.

449
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:48,160
If we didn't do that, you'd end up
where the cans would just squash.

450
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,320
The ripples give it the strength.

451
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,640
So, the next machine rotates
the can around a mould

452
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:55,560
that creates ripples on its body.

453
00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:59,400
These help to keep the can rigid

454
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,760
to prevent it collapsing
under pressure.

455
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:04,400
You can feel the difference.

456
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:06,240
Yeah, that's sturdy.

457
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:09,320
That's quite incredible. That is
simply that with ripples in it.

458
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,120
Yes. But actually when
you transport them,

459
00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:14,760
you can transport them
over ten feet high,

460
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:16,960
so the cans at the bottom
are supporting the weight

461
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:18,320
of all the other cans.

462
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,760
Yes. That is mega-strong.

463
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,280
And then over there
it's putting the tops on.

464
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,560
Yeah. It's putting the tops on
on the bottom of the can.

465
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:30,360
Circular steel can-ends arrive
at the factory ready-made.

466
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,520
They're dropped on top of
one end of the can

467
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,760
and the edges are folded
over to make a seal.

468
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,480
This happens over 1,000
times a minute.

469
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:43,960
And now they're off on
their way to be filled.

470
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,000
Quick and easy canned food is
one of the most popular items

471
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:50,400
on our shopping list.

472
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,160
The average household in Britain

473
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,080
gets through more than
ten cans a week,

474
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,320
but, as Ruth Goodman explains,

475
00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,240
when the tin can was first invented,

476
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,200
it wasn't for the sake
of convenience.

477
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:02,560
It was to save lives.

478
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:06,560
In the early 19th century,

479
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,720
food preservation was a matter
of life and death.

480
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,000
For all of the military might

481
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,000
of both the British
and the French navies,

482
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:22,080
the question of food was playing on
the minds of the warring admirals.

483
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:26,200
Malnutrition had killed more
than half of the British seamen

484
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:31,120
in the previous Seven Years' War, so
solving this problem was imperative.

485
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,840
To find out what was going wrong
with the naval diet,

486
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:40,320
I'm aboard the Gannet,
a Victorian naval ship,

487
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,600
to meet historian Alex Patterson.

488
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:45,480
Could you tell me, why on earth

489
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:47,400
were all those men
suffering malnutrition?

490
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,440
I mean, surely they loaded the ships
up with supplies before they left.

491
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:53,840
Fresh food stocks would
spoil very quickly

492
00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:56,680
so you were left
with the bare bones,

493
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:58,440
which was the dried food products.

494
00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,320
Dried food products didn't have
that much nutrition in them.

495
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,240
Coupled with lack of fresh water,

496
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,800
the men weren't getting
what they needed.

497
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:10,160
It wasn't a great diet to be
at sea four, five months at a time.

498
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,480
Away, without vitamin C for months,

499
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:16,280
the sailors were prone
to diseases like scurvy,

500
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:20,880
suffering muscle and joint pain,
red rashes and swelling gums.

501
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:23,080
Do you think they were
actually going hungry

502
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,400
or is it the quality of
the nutrition that's the problem?

503
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,320
Potentially, a bit
of both, actually.

504
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:30,880
The quality of the nutrition
wasn't great, we know that,

505
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,840
and if food spoiled quicker than
they could have controlled it,

506
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:35,840
they would've had
to lessen the rations.

507
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:40,320
To be able to feed 400 to 800
men on board was a huge feat

508
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,000
that the navy really struggled with.

509
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:48,120
Across the Channel, the French
navy faced the same problem.

510
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:52,640
In 1795, they offered a cash
prize to the first person

511
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,440
to find a new method
of food preservation.

512
00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:59,640
The winner was Nicolas Appert.

513
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,360
He found that by heating food
inside glass bottles

514
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:07,160
and sealing them up with a plug
of cream cheese and slaked lime,

515
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,320
he could preserve food
almost indefinitely.

516
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,800
The British quickly jumped
on the bandwagon,

517
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,200
coming up with their own version.

518
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,280
Looking for a less fragile material,

519
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:23,040
they turned to their already
established industry, tin plate.

520
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,480
Author John Nutting has made
a replica of their solution.

521
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:31,480
Hello, Ruth, how are you? I'm good.

522
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:33,200
Is this a can?

523
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:34,720
This is a replica of a can

524
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,840
that would have been made
from about 1813.

525
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:39,720
What is it made out of?
This is tin plate.

526
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:40,960
Does that mean pure tin?

527
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,680
This is steel which
has been coated in tin.

528
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,160
Why change from glass
bottles to tin cans?

529
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:48,920
Well, glass bottles were fragile,

530
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:51,240
so you didn't want really
to have to use something

531
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,680
which was not particularly good
at resisting knocks and bashes

532
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:56,520
and all the sort of things
that would happen

533
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,160
to preserved foods on ships.

534
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,920
The innovator who made the first
successful tin cans for preservation

535
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,040
was a man called Bryan Donkin.

536
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,840
He set up the first tin-canning
factory in the world in London...

537
00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:15,400
..and the principles of canning he
pioneered are still the same today.

538
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:17,720
So, the food goes in there.

539
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,720
First, he filled the can with
food through a hole in the top...

540
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:28,760
So, now what we have to do
is cover that hole.

541
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:30,400
Right. And solder that on.

542
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:31,440
Okey doke.

543
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,000
..and then added a lid
with a much smaller hole.

544
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:41,200
So, now we've got everything closed
except for one tiny little hole.

545
00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,000
When he cooked the food
inside the can,

546
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:48,080
steam could escape through the hole,

547
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:50,240
but it was then sealed up,

548
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:52,560
preserving the food inside the can.

549
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:58,680
And that's it. So, now the food
in there is cooked,

550
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:00,360
all the bacteria are killed

551
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:02,840
and because it's now sealed,
no new bacteria can get in.

552
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:03,880
Exactly, yes.

553
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,320
And it's preserved with
all its nutritional

554
00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:08,480
and vitamin values intact.

555
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:09,600
That's the key part of it,

556
00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,120
that the nutritional value is
completely preserved, yes.

557
00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:15,760
So, the tin can was born.

558
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,960
By 1818, Donkin's factory
was supplying the navy

559
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:22,920
with almost 24,000 cans a year,

560
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:28,760
including soup, meat and vegetables,
all rich in vitamins and minerals.

561
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:34,240
The nutrition of the British
seamen was hugely improved

562
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,240
and this humble invention
saved thousands of lives.

563
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:46,520
Back in Wigan,
my three vital ingredients

564
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,720
are being brought together for
the first time in the filling hall.

565
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:53,840
The beans are dropping
down from blanching,

566
00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:56,960
tomato sauce is coming
from the kitchen next door

567
00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:59,360
and the cans are travelling
from can-making

568
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:00,960
on the other side of the site.

569
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:07,360
I'm following them to meet
filling operator Jason Lowe.

570
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:09,800
This is the start
of the process, Gregg.

571
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,040
We get the cans from can-making,

572
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:17,080
they come down the gantry and they
go straight into the bean head.

573
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,880
The blanched beans arrive
at the rotating bean head

574
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,640
and fill up the small
round compartments on top.

575
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,600
Then they drop into
the waiting cans below.

576
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:32,360
On average, 465 beans
into every can.

577
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:36,600
It all happens so fast, I'll just
have to take their word for it.

578
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:40,080
Hundreds and hundreds of cans just
flashing in front of your eyes.

579
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:44,320
So, you don't add
the tomato sauce yet?

580
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:47,560
No, the tomato sauce
is at the next step.

581
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:48,960
Can I see the sauce going in?

582
00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:50,800
Yeah, of course you can.

583
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:53,240
This is what we call
the sauce filler.

584
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,120
It happens at a rapid pace,
my friend, doesn't it?

585
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,040
Endless sauce being put on.

586
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:01,840
The cans are passing
at such a rapid rate

587
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:05,280
that the sauce has to be squirted
in at high pressure.

588
00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:06,840
How many of these running?

589
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:10,280
We've actually got six other
lines all working flat-out.

590
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:15,920
After the sauce, we've got the beans
in the can, the sauce in the can,

591
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:16,960
then it puts a lid on.

592
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:22,200
Here in filling, the can ends are
stacked into a machine by hand.

593
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,520
Whatever you do, don't drop it

594
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,840
or else we'll end up with all
them can ends everywhere.

595
00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:31,920
How long do they take to pick up
if I get it wrong?

596
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:33,640
I don't know,
but I'll time you if you do.

597
00:34:36,720 --> 00:34:38,080
Yeah!

598
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:43,680
Finally, the cans are sealed,

599
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:47,600
but I've just realised the beans
haven't been cooked.

600
00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:50,200
They're not cooked yet, are they?
No, they're not cooked yet.

601
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:51,880
Them beans are blanched.

602
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,200
They get cooked further down.

603
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:55,760
Inside the tin?

604
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:57,000
Inside the tin.

605
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:01,320
The beans and the sauce are cooked
together in a sealed tin?

606
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:03,080
Yes. Already sealed up?

607
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:05,040
Already sealed up. Not cooked yet?

608
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:07,160
Not cooked yet.

609
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,080
Does that sound right to you?

610
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:10,840
That's our process, Gregg.

611
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,720
Now, I'll be blown. Who knew that?

612
00:35:13,720 --> 00:35:18,240
No-one would ever dream that those
beans go into that can uncooked.

613
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:22,480
Cooking them once they're
in the can kills any bacteria

614
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:25,880
that might be inside,
preserving the contents.

615
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:28,880
And Cherry's been finding
out exactly how long

616
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:30,280
tinned food will last.

617
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:38,080
If you're anything like me,
tins are bought for a rainy day

618
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:41,160
and then they end up at the back
of the cupboard, gathering dust.

619
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:46,360
But how long can they sit there
and still be OK to eat?

620
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:48,760
If they're past
their best before date,

621
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:52,320
they can still be used as long
as they're not dented, punctured,

622
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:57,920
swollen or rusty, but is canned
food as nutritious as fresh?

623
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:02,440
To find out, I'm going to the
Health and Life Sciences Department

624
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:04,880
at the University of Coventry.

625
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:06,720
First, I've brought them
a tin of tomatoes

626
00:36:06,720 --> 00:36:10,120
14 months past its best before date.

627
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:13,880
Dietician Carla Phillips is going to
measure the amount of vitamin C

628
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:17,880
in the tinned tomatoes
and compare that to fresh ones.

629
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,840
We've got some fresh tomatoes here,
so we need to blend them down

630
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,320
and then we can extract
the vitamin C.

631
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:24,360
Here we go.

632
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:31,160
Scientist Andrew Reid puts
our tinned and fresh samples

633
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,440
into a liquid chromatographer

634
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,720
to separate and measure
their vitamin C levels.

635
00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:39,480
So, the results show that the fresh
tomatoes that we bought today

636
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,560
have the same vitamin C level
as the tinned tomatoes.

637
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,320
What?! I'm completely gobsmacked.

638
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:48,080
Well, we can explain that because
these would have been tinned

639
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:49,560
as soon as they were picked

640
00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:53,280
and these fresh tomatoes might have
been hanging around in a warehouse

641
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:54,880
before they went to the supermarket,

642
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:59,080
so the vitamin C content will
degrade from these fresh products.

643
00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:01,800
So, canning preserves the nutrients,

644
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:05,840
whereas in fresh food,
they continually degrade.

645
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:08,760
Next, the lab has found
another can to test.

646
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:11,760
It's, er, slightly out of date.

647
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:15,320
What? 45-year-old can of Skippers.

648
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:21,280
Oh, it comes with a key.

649
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,560
I think you put that bit in there.
Yeah, I think so.

650
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:28,760
These fish haven't been out
of bed for 45 years. I know.

651
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:30,000
Absolutely.

652
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,320
Theoretically, there's no limit
on how long fish

653
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:35,920
can be kept nutritionally
sound in a can.

654
00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:38,000
That is absolutely incredible.

655
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:41,400
They look fresh,
they smell fresh. Mm-hmm.

656
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:43,240
But what I would like to know is,

657
00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:45,600
are there any hidden microbes
in there?

658
00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:46,640
We shall find out.

659
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:50,200
To see if the fish
is still safe to eat,

660
00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:55,160
microbiologist Dr Daniel Amund
places samples on Petri dishes

661
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:57,960
that need to be incubated
for microtesting.

662
00:37:57,960 --> 00:37:59,960
The results will take five days.

663
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:04,600
As a dietician,
would you recommend cans?

664
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:07,560
Absolutely. They're a great way of
helping us to meet our nutritional

665
00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,240
requirements. You know, if we buy
fresh fruit and vegetables,

666
00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:11,600
then they can stay in our fridge

667
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:13,480
and if we don't use
them up quick enough,

668
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,280
then the nutrients can
become less over time,

669
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:18,640
but tinned vegetables will
really keep the nutrition

670
00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:20,200
locked in for longer.

671
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:22,960
So, fresh is wonderful
if eaten quickly,

672
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:27,400
but cans are a fantastic way
of getting good food into our body

673
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:29,120
very conveniently. Absolutely.

674
00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:32,760
And the old tin of Skippers?

675
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,960
After a sample was incubated
in a Petri dish for five days,

676
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:39,040
it showed no signs
of bacterial growth.

677
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:43,400
So, remarkably, after 45 years,
the fish is fit to eat.

678
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,280
But before you eat any food
from out-of-date cans,

679
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:54,320
make sure the can is intact
and in good condition

680
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:56,600
and the contents look and smell OK.

681
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:03,440
Back at the factory,

682
00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:07,200
it's been 52 minutes since
I released my beans from the bag.

683
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:11,760
They've already been blanched
and sealed inside the can.

684
00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:14,200
Now, it's finally time to cook them.

685
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:18,640
Cooker manager Greg Leach
is responsible for cooking

686
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:21,920
three million cans
of beans every day.

687
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:31,880
Welcome to the surreal
world of bean cooking.

688
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:41,880
Where's this steam coming from?

689
00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:43,680
We've got a massive
boiler plant on-site.

690
00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:45,080
It's generating the steam

691
00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:47,880
and it's pumping it through pipes
straight into our cookers.

692
00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:51,080
Mate, how many beans
are you cooking?

693
00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:54,960
So, on all five cookers,
probably about 800,000 cans

694
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:56,440
every eight hours.

695
00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:58,520
This is a sci-fi movie, isn't it?

696
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:02,360
Well, you can feel it moving below,
all those reels bumping around.

697
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:04,240
One big drive cog
pushing everything.

698
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:11,920
Just like a household
pressure cooker,

699
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:13,880
steam is used to raise the pressure

700
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:17,720
and the temperature
inside the cooking chamber.

701
00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:20,120
There are five chambers
in each cooker

702
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:24,000
and inside each one
is a giant corkscrew,

703
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:25,960
which continuously turns,

704
00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:28,800
moving the cans from one end
of the chamber to the other.

705
00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:33,720
The movement mixes the beans
and sauce inside the can

706
00:40:33,720 --> 00:40:35,920
and the heat from
the steam cooks them.

707
00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:41,000
Seven minutes later, they move
on to the next chamber.

708
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:43,840
So what we do is we send it up
one way, transfer it,

709
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:46,120
send it all the way back,
transfer it again,

710
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:48,320
send it all the way back
up this end.

711
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:52,880
Why don't you just make a great
big pot of beans and sauce,

712
00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:55,080
cook it up, stick it in a can?

713
00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:58,280
Well, we can't guarantee that there
won't be bacteria in that product

714
00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:01,200
when we've cooked it up and we're
sealing that bacteria in a can

715
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:03,360
and caused a spoiled product
or dangerous product

716
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,120
on the other side of the process.

717
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,200
21 minutes at a high
temperature and pressure

718
00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:12,400
kills any bacteria inside the can

719
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:18,080
and means the beans will be good to
eat for at least the next 16 months.

720
00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:20,320
That's why it's perfectly preserved.

721
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:22,560
That is the beauty of canning.

722
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:24,440
It controls bacteria.

723
00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:26,880
A lot of responsibility on you here.

724
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:30,240
Yes. You could argue that this
might be the most important bit.

725
00:41:30,240 --> 00:41:31,280
It is, it is.

726
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:34,560
It guarantees our food safety,
it guarantees our quality

727
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:36,200
and it guarantees the shelf life.

728
00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:39,760
We do this correctly, when you open
a can in eight months or ten months,

729
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:42,360
it'll be as good as
the day we made it.

730
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:47,040
So it turns out that baked beans
aren't actually baked after all.

731
00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:50,280
They're cooked using steam.

732
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,280
Mate, what it takes to give
us beans on toast, eh?

733
00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:00,120
I use quite a bit of canned
food when I cook.

734
00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,200
I use tinned tomatoes
for pasta sauces

735
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:04,840
and I use tinned fruit
when I make a crumble.

736
00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:07,960
There are some people, however, that
turn their nose up at canned food.

737
00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:10,040
They think it's common.

738
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:12,520
Well, those people would be
surprised to know

739
00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:15,240
there was a time when
canned food in your larder

740
00:42:15,240 --> 00:42:17,440
was the absolute
epitome of poshness.

741
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:26,640
I'm on a quest to find out where
our passion for baked beans began

742
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:31,680
and, rather surprisingly, that story
begins at the Queen's grocers.

743
00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:34,520
In the mid-19th century,

744
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:38,680
Fortnum and Mason in London were the
leading supplier of tinned goods

745
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:41,880
to the British Empire,
supplying their luxury tins

746
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:46,600
to the wealthy and military
officers touring overseas.

747
00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:50,920
In 1886, an entrepreneurial
American by the name of Henry Heinz

748
00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:54,520
arrived here with a single
suitcase full of samples

749
00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:59,880
of seven of his newest varieties,
mostly condiments like ketchup.

750
00:42:59,880 --> 00:43:04,120
By all accounts, he was astonished
to hear the purchasing manager say,

751
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:06,640
"I think, Mr Heinz,
we'll take the lot."

752
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:10,680
15 years later in 1901,

753
00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:15,720
Fortnum's were the first to sell
a new Heinz product - baked beans.

754
00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:20,920
But the ambitious American
wanted much more.

755
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:24,800
He intended to take tins
to the mass market.

756
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:32,120
And his baked beans were at
the forefront of the revolution.

757
00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:39,560
Polly Russell is a food historian
for the British Library.

758
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:42,400
SHE LAUGHS
Thank you. One beans on toast.

759
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:43,720
Lovely!

760
00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:48,600
Tell me, how is it that food that
started out as a supreme luxury

761
00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:50,520
ended up being something
that we all eat?

762
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:53,960
Well, I think Henry Heinz has got
to take quite a bit of credit

763
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,080
for popularising tinned food,

764
00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:58,600
particularly things
like baked beans.

765
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:01,800
So in 1905/1906,

766
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,240
here is one of the earliest
adverts for Heinz

767
00:44:04,240 --> 00:44:07,280
and here you see the workers
streaming out of the factory,

768
00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:11,920
coming towards this sort of
wholesome bowl of baked beans

769
00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:15,000
and it says, "What a hunger the
morning's work has given you

770
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:18,160
"and how little time you
have to satisfy its cravings.

771
00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:21,640
"You want something cheap,
ready and sustaining."

772
00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:23,560
I find it quite
extraordinary, really,

773
00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:25,600
that we took to something
like baked beans.

774
00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:28,000
I mean, this bears no resemblance

775
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:30,640
to any traditional British
food before it.

776
00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:33,240
No, you're absolutely right.
This is not a traditional food.

777
00:44:33,240 --> 00:44:35,520
This is a completely different food.

778
00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:38,920
And how long did it take, you know,
to move from a completely new food

779
00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:40,680
to something that
we take for granted?

780
00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:42,680
Baked beans are first
introduced into Britain

781
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:44,560
in the late 19th century.

782
00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:49,360
By the 1920s, Heinz has got its
first state-of-the-art factory

783
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:53,760
and baked beans are actually being
produced in this country by 1928

784
00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:56,440
and what you see is
that sales are doubling

785
00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:58,120
every four and a half years.

786
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,720
And that's how baked beans
conquered Britain.

787
00:45:02,720 --> 00:45:07,760
We now get through more than two
million cans of them every day.

788
00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:17,720
In just one hour and 27 minutes,

789
00:45:17,720 --> 00:45:22,520
my beans have been blanched,
laser-checked, put in a can,

790
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:24,440
covered in tomato sauce

791
00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:27,560
and sent spiralling through
a pressure cooker.

792
00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:30,320
They've been cooked with
the lid already sealed on,

793
00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:34,320
so, every two hours, a team
of experts take a can

794
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:36,360
off the production line
and taste it,

795
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:40,520
checking the texture of the beans
and the flavour of the sauce.

796
00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:42,800
As soon as my beans get
the green light,

797
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:45,440
it's time to put a label on them.

798
00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:48,480
Today, that's Hayley Wright's job.

799
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:51,280
There's a hole in the wall
where the cooker is

800
00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:52,920
and they come straight
through to you.

801
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:54,920
Yeah. How many?

802
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:56,520
We package over three million a day.

803
00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:59,600
These are still really warm.
They are warm.

804
00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:01,160
These are straight from the cooker.

805
00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:03,760
This is the way that
we normally label.

806
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:07,200
A machine sprays each can
with a mist of glue

807
00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:09,320
and sticks on a label.

808
00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:11,760
It's all carefully monitored.

809
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:14,280
The light that you can see
shining is actually a camera.

810
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:17,720
That is taking a photograph of
every single label that's applied.

811
00:46:17,720 --> 00:46:21,520
That's to make sure that every
label has been stuck on straight.

812
00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:24,800
Are my beans finally ready to go?

813
00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:26,000
They're almost ready to go.

814
00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:28,200
We just need to do a couple
more quality checks.

815
00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:30,000
You're kidding me!
No, I'll just show you.

816
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:32,760
Listen, they're cooked, they're
in the can - they've got to be OK!

817
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:34,680
Let me just show you
our final quality check.

818
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:39,000
So, we need to ensure that
the beans have got a vacuum.

819
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:42,080
What we mean by a vacuum is that
the end is actually in a concave

820
00:46:42,080 --> 00:46:45,880
so if you feel that, it's a nice
tight vacuum that's in the can.

821
00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:49,240
If a can gets knocked
or dented, creating a hole,

822
00:46:49,240 --> 00:46:50,880
the vacuum will be broken

823
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:54,280
and the bottom of the can
will bulge outwards.

824
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:56,560
Luckily, the factory have
a way of preventing

825
00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:58,560
any of those from getting through.

826
00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:02,240
Right. I've opened that just
a little bit, right?

827
00:47:02,240 --> 00:47:05,600
Yep. And now I'm going to push the
lid down so the machine can't tell.

828
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:07,880
Yep. That looks like
a sealed can, right?

829
00:47:07,880 --> 00:47:10,320
Correct. But you reckon now
the bottom will have changed.

830
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:13,160
Yes. I'm going to make
a little scrape in it.

831
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:14,840
All right, that's ours.

832
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:16,160
Put it back in the machine. OK.

833
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:21,600
The can passes through a sensor
which checks its bottom.

834
00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:25,080
Even the smallest bulge will
indicate there's a leak in the can

835
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:26,840
and it would be rejected.

836
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:32,040
HE LAUGHS
That's ridiculous!

837
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:33,400
That's not the neatest,

838
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:36,160
but that is in the top three
neatest things I've seen today.

839
00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:41,000
Canned food is a great way
to eat on a budget,

840
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:44,800
but does that mean you have
to compromise on taste?

841
00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:48,360
Well, Cherry is conducting
an experiment to find out.

842
00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:56,680
I've taken over the restaurant of a
swanky hotel in Richmond-upon-Thames

843
00:47:56,680 --> 00:48:01,080
and invited a group of foodies
to help me with a tasting.

844
00:48:01,080 --> 00:48:05,280
These people think they're coming
here to check out the new menu.

845
00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:07,680
Well, I've got a bit of a surprise
for them in the kitchen.

846
00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:10,920
Their meal will be coming from tins.

847
00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:16,000
I'm conducting an experiment
with Jack Monroe.

848
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:17,280
Hi, Jack, nice to meet you.

849
00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:18,320
I'm Cherry. Hi!

850
00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:22,880
Jack's a food writer known
for budget-friendly recipes

851
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:26,240
and thinks canned foods have
a bit of an image problem.

852
00:48:26,240 --> 00:48:28,120
We get bombarded with messages

853
00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:31,080
and especially these days
from, like, health gurus

854
00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:32,400
and health food bloggers

855
00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:35,560
and I think there's just a slight
snobbery around using cans,

856
00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:37,320
if I'm honest. Yes.

857
00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:42,560
Today, Jack's hoping to persuade me
and our discerning diners

858
00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:45,920
that canned food can be
as delicious as fresh

859
00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:48,600
and at a fraction of the price.

860
00:48:48,600 --> 00:48:50,160
I'm an avid supporter of the tin.

861
00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:53,240
You have a CAN-do attitude.

862
00:48:53,240 --> 00:48:54,880
I like it!

863
00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:59,000
Jack's going to produce a two-course
gourmet meal for our guests -

864
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:03,000
croquette de poisson
and then chana masala.

865
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:05,240
All the ingredients
will come from cans,

866
00:49:05,240 --> 00:49:08,240
apart from some herbs and spices
which will add flavour,

867
00:49:08,240 --> 00:49:11,440
but costs should still be minimal.

868
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:14,000
That's what I'm going to do and
hope that they love it, too.

869
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:16,920
So, put me to work cos I'm not
the world's best cook,

870
00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:19,000
but I can work a tin opener.

871
00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:20,240
Excellent!

872
00:49:20,240 --> 00:49:22,480
First, the croquette de poisson -

873
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:26,600
fishcakes made from tinned sardines
and a value can of potatoes.

874
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:31,240
I've never used a canned
potato in my own home.

875
00:49:31,240 --> 00:49:34,360
Are they cheaper than
normal potatoes?

876
00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:35,400
Actually, yes.

877
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:38,360
You're looking at 30p
for a kilo of tinned potatoes

878
00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:41,040
or 70p for a kilo of fresh potatoes.

879
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:43,920
That's amazing! Somebody's already
done the hard work for you.

880
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:46,120
They're peeled, they're parboiled,

881
00:49:46,120 --> 00:49:48,640
they're ready to go
and they're half the price.

882
00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:54,600
The potatoes are mashed together
with the sardines along with flour,

883
00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:58,280
parsley, a splash of lemon
juice and paprika.

884
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:01,440
The most expensive ingredient
is the tinned fish

885
00:50:01,440 --> 00:50:04,920
and even that is only 40p a can.

886
00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:07,360
What size is the average
boutique fishcake?

887
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:09,120
I think quite small.

888
00:50:09,120 --> 00:50:10,160
Yeah? Yes.

889
00:50:11,400 --> 00:50:13,880
Look at my baby!

890
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:16,440
The fishcakes seem
to be shaping up OK,

891
00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:20,400
but I'm not sure the curry,
also assembled entirely from tins,

892
00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:21,960
will be as appetising.

893
00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:26,840
Tinned chickpeas, peaches,
spinach, tomatoes,

894
00:50:26,840 --> 00:50:28,560
along with a chopped onion,

895
00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:32,320
garlic and some herbs are all
simmering away in one pot.

896
00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:37,200
Now that we've added
a few herbs and spices,

897
00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:41,120
it's really starting to smell
and look amazing.

898
00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:44,120
I can't wait to see what
they're going to make of these.

899
00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:45,680
Fingers crossed they like them.

900
00:50:48,840 --> 00:50:51,560
Here we go! It is ready!

901
00:50:51,560 --> 00:50:55,320
Let's see if our starter makes the
grade with our discerning diners.

902
00:50:56,720 --> 00:50:57,880
All right, bon appetit!

903
00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:05,080
Cheers! Cheers!

904
00:51:05,080 --> 00:51:07,840
For me, the flavour
of the sardine fishcake

905
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:10,240
is as good as any fresh equivalent.

906
00:51:10,240 --> 00:51:11,280
I love it!

907
00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:14,280
Thanks. You would never know
that was from a can.

908
00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:16,440
But what do our guests think?

909
00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:17,760
I thought it was really yummy.

910
00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:19,680
The flavours were really
well integrated.

911
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:23,400
There was a lovely texture,
little bits of potato.

912
00:51:23,400 --> 00:51:25,240
Fantastic. It's lovely.

913
00:51:25,240 --> 00:51:27,040
I thought it was really,
really nice.

914
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:28,280
I enjoyed it.

915
00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:30,640
Could maybe have done with
another four, but, you know.

916
00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:33,320
But not everyone was
impressed by the recipe.

917
00:51:34,320 --> 00:51:37,160
What I missed was
a bit of heat in it.

918
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:40,480
Chilli, maybe.

919
00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:42,160
But it's a good start.

920
00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:44,840
The fishcakes passed the taste test.

921
00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:47,160
Will our curry made
from tinned chickpeas,

922
00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:49,560
spinach and peaches fare as well?

923
00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:50,600
Enjoy!

924
00:51:53,160 --> 00:51:55,560
It is jolly good. There's lovely
aromas coming through.

925
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:56,600
Yes, exactly.

926
00:51:56,600 --> 00:51:58,680
It just tastes really, really fresh.

927
00:51:58,680 --> 00:52:00,680
Light and clean tasting, yeah.

928
00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:03,720
Generally, nice textures
and flavours in the mouth.

929
00:52:04,680 --> 00:52:08,960
The meal has definitely won over
the educated palates of our diners.

930
00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:11,560
Time to come clean
about our recipes.

931
00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:17,720
Well, this is chef, Jack Monroe.
Well... Hi, I hope you enjoyed it.

932
00:52:17,720 --> 00:52:22,080
Would you like to see what
Jack used to make your food?

933
00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:23,800
Yes. Yes.

934
00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:27,640
You might be slightly surprised
at this... Ready? ..or disgusted!

935
00:52:27,640 --> 00:52:29,600
Ta-da! Wow.

936
00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:31,320
Yes!

937
00:52:31,320 --> 00:52:35,680
Jack specialises in making meals
on a very low budget.

938
00:52:35,680 --> 00:52:41,680
Would you like to tell us how much
it cost per head to make that meal?

939
00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:45,560
So, your fishcakes
came in at 17p-a-head

940
00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:48,920
and that included your parsley
garnish and your lemon wedge.

941
00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:52,160
Your curry came in at 27p

942
00:52:52,160 --> 00:52:54,560
and it included your little
bit of coriander as well.

943
00:52:54,560 --> 00:52:58,000
And the potatoes on the side
came in at 9p each.

944
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:02,800
So, that two-course meal
cost about 60p a head.

945
00:53:04,520 --> 00:53:06,680
I am impressed. I am impressed.

946
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:18,120
I've been really pleasantly
surprised by today.

947
00:53:18,120 --> 00:53:21,160
I have to admit I think I was
a bit of a can snob before,

948
00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:24,040
but Jack has really
broadened my mind

949
00:53:24,040 --> 00:53:27,520
to substituting some items
into my everyday cooking

950
00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:31,960
to bring my family food budget down
without sacrificing on taste.

951
00:53:31,960 --> 00:53:33,120
Most enjoyable.

952
00:53:42,880 --> 00:53:46,640
Back at the factory, my finished
can has been labelled.

953
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:50,880
Next, it's wrapped and stacked onto
a pallet by two dancing robots.

954
00:53:54,720 --> 00:53:57,280
But before the cans are sent
out to the supermarket,

955
00:53:57,280 --> 00:54:02,000
they pass through the factory's
national distribution centre.

956
00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:06,560
Almost all Heinz products made at
their UK factories are stored here.

957
00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:11,240
As well as beans, soup and
spaghetti made at this factory,

958
00:54:11,240 --> 00:54:15,280
the warehouse will also store
everything from tomato ketchup

959
00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:17,000
to salad cream.

960
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:21,320
Paul Andrews is head of logistics
for this mammoth operation.

961
00:54:22,320 --> 00:54:25,640
Oh, my word!

962
00:54:25,640 --> 00:54:27,120
What on earth?!

963
00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:28,720
It's amazing, isn't it?

964
00:54:28,720 --> 00:54:31,040
That's just breathtaking.

965
00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:36,080
In this warehouse here, we can store
70,000 pallets of products.

966
00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:39,600
And, imagine, on each pallet,
there's roughly 100 cases.

967
00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:44,560
This is the largest food
storage site in the UK.

968
00:54:44,560 --> 00:54:45,840
It's warm in here.

969
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:47,200
Do you heat this warehouse?

970
00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:48,480
No, we don't need to at all.

971
00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:50,240
These beans that have
come in here today,

972
00:54:50,240 --> 00:54:52,720
they're still warm from
the factory so, actually,

973
00:54:52,720 --> 00:54:56,080
all the heat from the product
is heating the warehouse here.

974
00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:57,200
No way!

975
00:54:57,200 --> 00:55:00,760
The heat I can feel, because this
is markedly warmer than out there,

976
00:55:00,760 --> 00:55:02,600
is just the heat from
the cooked beans?

977
00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:05,320
It's just the heat
from the cooked beans.

978
00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:07,280
Is anybody driving those cranes?

979
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:09,160
These cranes are all automatic.

980
00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:14,840
I don't like it. It feels eerie.

981
00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:17,440
When the pallet comes in,
it sends a message to the crane,

982
00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:19,200
telling the crane
to pick up that pallet

983
00:55:19,200 --> 00:55:21,360
and then go and locate
it in the warehouse.

984
00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:23,400
Times 70,000 pallets!

985
00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:28,240
Mate, this is just food
on a giant scale.

986
00:55:28,240 --> 00:55:30,520
That's what it takes
to feed the nation.

987
00:55:33,040 --> 00:55:34,560
Just two hours ago,

988
00:55:34,560 --> 00:55:37,440
I was hoisting my bag
of beans into place

989
00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:40,320
and releasing them into the factory.

990
00:55:40,320 --> 00:55:43,720
Now, they are under the control
of these giant cranes.

991
00:55:45,800 --> 00:55:49,640
The pallets of cans are stored
in the warehouse for 17 hours

992
00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:52,040
while final quality tests
are completed...

993
00:55:53,440 --> 00:55:56,120
..before being rolled out,
ready for departure.

994
00:55:57,240 --> 00:55:58,760
Take it out and stick it on a lorry.

995
00:55:58,760 --> 00:55:59,960
Off it goes.

996
00:55:59,960 --> 00:56:04,520
All of these coming past me
are all going to shops -

997
00:56:04,520 --> 00:56:08,040
a constant conveyor belt into
our kitchens. Into your kitchens.

998
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:09,120
Never-ending.

999
00:56:14,840 --> 00:56:19,520
They make three million cans of
baked beans here every single day,

1000
00:56:19,520 --> 00:56:21,960
but then when you think about it,
there's hardly a kitchen

1001
00:56:21,960 --> 00:56:24,480
in the whole country that hasn't
got a tin of beans in it.

1002
00:56:24,480 --> 00:56:27,200
It's the only product I know
that we would happily eat

1003
00:56:27,200 --> 00:56:29,560
for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

1004
00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:34,120
What I didn't realise is
the incredible technology

1005
00:56:34,120 --> 00:56:37,320
that goes into making such an
inexpensive and everyday item.

1006
00:56:38,600 --> 00:56:39,880
I suppose, in a way,

1007
00:56:39,880 --> 00:56:44,480
it's quite fitting that the country
that eats the most baked beans also

1008
00:56:44,480 --> 00:56:47,240
has the biggest baked bean
factory on Earth.

1009
00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:51,560
Beans made at this factory in Wigan

1010
00:56:51,560 --> 00:56:54,040
will go to homes all over the UK,

1011
00:56:54,040 --> 00:56:58,320
with the north-west taking the crown
for the biggest bean-eaters.

1012
00:56:58,320 --> 00:57:00,320
They also head to Ireland...

1013
00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:01,360
and Europe.

1014
00:57:01,360 --> 00:57:03,280
In fact, all over the world,

1015
00:57:03,280 --> 00:57:06,560
as far away as Nigeria, India

1016
00:57:06,560 --> 00:57:10,520
and Australia, who eat more baked
beans than any other country

1017
00:57:10,520 --> 00:57:11,880
outside the UK.

1018
00:57:14,200 --> 00:57:15,840
Last one?

1019
00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:17,800
Yeah. All done?

1020
00:57:17,800 --> 00:57:19,800
Thanks, mate. Thank you very much.

1021
00:57:25,800 --> 00:57:27,640
There -

1022
00:57:27,640 --> 00:57:29,640
3,000 tins of beans on that lorry

1023
00:57:29,640 --> 00:57:33,200
and I saw those beans come
in, dried, from North America.

1024
00:57:33,200 --> 00:57:34,240
But who knows?

1025
00:57:34,240 --> 00:57:37,960
In a few days, someone might be
dipping their chips into them.

1026
00:57:37,960 --> 00:57:39,120
OK, let's go!

1027
00:57:42,000 --> 00:57:43,520
BEAN and gone.

1028
00:57:47,280 --> 00:57:48,440
Next time...

1029
00:57:48,440 --> 00:57:49,480
Wheels!

1030
00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:53,280
..I'll be visiting the UK's
largest bike manufacturer...

1031
00:57:53,280 --> 00:57:55,400
You're part-man, part-bicycle
now, aren't you?

1032
00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:58,480
HE LAUGHS
I think I'm robot now.

1033
00:57:58,480 --> 00:58:00,760
..to have a go at building my own...

1034
00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:02,360
So, that's...

1035
00:58:02,360 --> 00:58:03,800
that bit.

1036
00:58:03,800 --> 00:58:04,840
Let's go, let's go!

1037
00:58:04,840 --> 00:58:07,200
..and Cherry gets
some Olympic tips...

1038
00:58:07,200 --> 00:58:10,320
So, if you want to make yourself
as small as possible.

1039
00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:13,120
..that'll transform
everyone's bike ride.

1040
00:58:13,120 --> 00:58:15,240
She looks faster already.

1041
00:58:15,240 --> 00:58:16,560
Woo! All right!