On 25 June Audrey Yardley-Jones asked about appropriate methods of dealing
with original food packaging and their contents in a museum collection.

Like all museum objects, food should be dealt with in 2 ways. Firstly, you
should have a general approach, ie preventive conservation such as correct
storage conditions (light, temp, RH, integrated pest management). Secondly,
each individual object should be surveyed, and then each object should have
its problems addressed on its own merits. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

At the Australian War Memorial we have a fairly large and varied collection
of food stuffs & medicines covering a period of almost a century. I have
treated several food items, although I don't consider myself to be an
expert in the field. It has been my experience that packaged food is very
unpredictable. Of two cans made at about the same time with the same
contents, one will be appear to be perfectly okay (no visible corrosion, no
bad or unexpected smell when opened), while the other will have corroded
from the inside and the contents become rancid. I have never seen or heard
of a can exploding because of the deterioration of food contents.

I prefer to only open a can if I have reason to believe that the contents
are rotting & will affect the can itself. Visible signs are corrosion,
bulging of the can, and weeping of the contents through pin hole corrosion.
When I do have to open a can I make as small a hole as possible in the
bottom & flush out the contents. I usually dispose of the contents, as they
are rarely anything like their original form.

As for medicines, I always try to find out exactly what I'm dealing with
before I start messing with it. Once again, though, I tend not to interfere
with things unless there are signs of problems, although there are 1 or 2
substances that I will dispose of because of their potentially unstable
nature. Picric acid will occasionally be found in medical chests dated to
the 30's & 40's (and possibly older), and is an example of something that
should be carefully handled & disposed of, as it is highly unstable &
behaves like nitroglycerin.

George Bailey
Objects Conservator
Australian War Memorial
Treloar Centre for Conservation
4 Callan St, Mitchell, A.C.T. 2911
Australia
Phone: +61 6 241 6122
fax:   +61 6 241 7998
email: [log in to unmask]