Spam is sometimes referred to as a "mystery meat", and people have their own ideas about
how it's made and what it is.
So, here to fill in the blanks on everyone’s favorite canned meat are 10 Secrets About
How Spam Is Really Made!
The Story of Spam
Every highly debated food has its origin story.
Spam has become much more than just salted pork in a can, it has become part of popular
culture and most people know about Spam even if they don't like it.
Jay Hormel introduced Spam to Americans in 1937, but by the 1940's his relationship with
his creation was a little strained.
The product was championed by many people and maligned by others.
These mixed reviews led Mr. Hormel to develop something of a love-hate relationship with
the product that was destined to become the Hormel Company's most famous brand.
Over the years Spam has developed huge followings in both Hawaii and South Korea.
These markets in particular have remained fiercely loyal to Spam regardless of economic
conditions or the ebb and flow of the product's reputation.
The recession that hit a lot of people hard in 2008 was bad news for families struggling
to navigate a faltering economy, but it was good news for Spam.
Many people were willing to overlook Spam's mixed reputation and they helped to fuel a
10 percent increase in sales for Hormel.
Whether you hate it or love it, the story of Spam will continue as long as shoppers
seek out the little blue can.
Heating the Meat
Getting Spam's canning process right is crucial to the product's long life.
Hormel has a particular cooking process that it follows which helps make this happen.
After the cans are filled with meat they are sent through a specialized piece of equipment
called a hydrostatic cooker.
These massive machines are six stories tall and are capable of cooking a lot of Spam.
The hydrostatic cooker uses very hot water to cook the filled cans as they pass through
several chambers inside the machine.
The cans work their way through the chambers and this lengthy trip includes cooking, sterilization,
washing, and finally cooling.
These impressive machines are capable of processing as many as 33,000 cans of Spam every hour.
This might sound like an extraordinary amount of product, but the plant needs to maintain
this level of output to keep the supermarket shelves well-stocked with Hormel's most famous
food.
After the cooking process is complete the cans of Spam are ready to be boxed up and
shipped.
It's easy to overlook how much work goes into putting out a product like Spam.
A lot of thought has been put into making sure it is available to the millions of people
around the world who continue to enjoy it.
From Mystery to Icon
Spam, the enigmatic meat in a can, has had a long and complicated relationship with both
Hormel and the people who eat the salty pork.
Company executives didn't always want to defend it and customers didn't always want to buy
it because of questions about the perceived quality of the product.
A lot of the past trepidation about Spam has been overcome with help from an unexpected
source.
Spam was having a good run in the 1970's and an appearance in Monty Python's Flying Circus
helped to solidify Spam as a genuine part of popular culture.
At one point in the comedy, the entire cast burst into a song celebrating Spam.
This is the kind of publicity a company can't buy at any price.
Maybe there is really no such thing as bad publicity, but there was no question this
was very good publicity for Spam.
Several decades later this musical number was reintroduced to the world when the musical
Spamalot debuted on Broadway in 2004.
Spam will never be confused with filet mignon, but it does continue to be a popular food
that many people enjoy.
It has survived the slings and arrows of a fickle public to become an iconic brand.
Into the Mix
Spam has a somewhat mysterious reputation that leads some people to believe they can
never really be sure what Hormel's popular product actually contains.
This misconception has been kept alive by critics of the product, but it can be easily
dismissed.
The fact is that Spam contains only six ingredients.
The ingredients are pork, salt, water, potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrate.
Mystery solved!
The pork is deboned by meat cutters and then ground up into large batches for further processing.
At this point, the meat is checked for foreign substances including the use of metal detectors.
The ground meat is then sent to a series of vacuum mixers that cool the meat until it's
nearly frozen.
At this point in the process, the remaining five ingredients are added to the pork in
sealed, airtight containers.
This is a very specific process because Hormel wants to make sure the meat retains most of
its water when it's cooked instead of leaking out.
If too much water leaks out while it's being cooked, the pork would become dry and unappealing.
The ingredients and the processes used to make Spam are pretty straightforward and should
put peoples' minds at ease about whether or not this meat is mysterious after all.
Spam into a Can
Did you know that Spam is cooked at the factory in its familiar tin.
But before Spam can be shipped out the door to your local supermarket it has to find its
way into Hormel's distinctively shaped metal cans.
The batches of Spam still haven't been cooked when they reach the filling machines.
Instead of filling the cans from the top, the machines actually put the pork mixture
in the cans from the bottom.
Another machine puts the lids on and stamps each can.
A combination of vacuum sealing the can and then cooking the contents is what gives Spam
it's famously long shelf life.
Hormel has carefully constructed Spam's canning process to make the product last as long as
possible.
This process is one of the secrets about how Spam is really made.
There was a lot of trial and error involved as the process was perfected.
However, all the testing eventually paid off for Hormel and the result is an appealing
product people like to eat.
(Well, at least most people.)
It was found that using the right amount of salt and heating the meat to a certain temperature
were the keys to a successful process.
Thanks to these simple steps Spam can sit in your cupboard for a long time.
A Bestseller
If Spam was a book, it would be on The New York Time’s Best Seller’s list.
Spam has been the butt of more than its share of jokes over the years, but it's been around
since 1937 so the people at Hormel must be doing something right.
Despite Spam's dubious reputation among some people, the product's huge sales are proof
that a lot of people like to eat it.
Sales of Spam received a tremendous boost during World War Two because allied troops
were eating about 15 million cans of Spam every week.
The compact metal can made Spam a good choice for soldiers who needed to fill their backpacks
with ready to eat foods that didn't need to be cooked.
It was also a good choice because the canned food wouldn't spoil easily in the field.
By the time the peace treaties were signed, as many as 100 million cans of Spam had been
consumed by hungry troops.
After the war ended, Spam's popularity continued to grow at a steady pace.
Hormel reached an impressive milestone in 1959 when the company sold its one billionth
can.
If a billion cans seems like a monumental achievement, then consider that, by 2017,
Hormel had sold 8 billion cans and counting.
There are not a lot of products that can match these kinds of numbers and there is no reason
to think Hormel won't continue to reach new milestones.
Everlasting Spam
Willy Wonka promised children that Everlasting Gobstoppers would last forever.
No one will confuse Spam with magical candy, but the shelf life of Hormel's classic canned
food is quite a trick.
Spam's long shelf life is a point of pride for the company, but some people do wonder
about the exact reasons behind this achievement.
The salty meat is fully cooked so it can sit on your shelf or be part of your emergency
supplies in case you need some food that is ready to eat right out of the can.
Even if you don't think Spam is the most appealing food in the world it probably wouldn't hurt
to have a couple cans tucked away just in case you need them.
You know, in case of a zombie apocalypse.
People have wondered what Spam's actual shelf life is - for reasons of food safety or simply
out of curiosity.
Hormel insists its product will stay good indefinitely if the can is sealed properly
and remains undamaged.
Even if it will remain edible for years to come it doesn't mean the Spam will remain
as fresh and tasty as the day it was canned.
The company had to admit that the taste will start to decline after a couple of years on
the shelf.
Spam's label warns that the product could start to go bad after five years, but most
people who love Spam will eat it long before it starts to decline.
Perhaps there are time capsules with cans of Spam waiting to be eaten at some point
in the future.
Controlling Quality
Every company insists they offer only the best quality of products to their customers
and Hormel is no different.
The company has a number of quality control procedures in place to help make sure the
Spam that people buy lives up to their expectations.
This is an important part of the process and it's one of the secrets about how Spam is
really made.
Hormel works with a number of meat suppliers that the company trusts to deliver quality
meat that won't pose a risk to their customers' health.
The meat cutting process must be followed carefully to avoid any contamination of the
meat.
A number of safety procedures are in place along the assembly line such as specialized
monitoring equipment that sets off alarms if a problem with the meat is detected.
Department of Agriculture regulations keep the Spam at the processing plant for 10 days
so the product can be properly tested.
The plant is required to randomly check a certain number of cans of Spam by subjecting
them to a 100 degree Fahrenheit heating test.
This simple test can reveal problems with the canning and cooking processes that could
potentially expose customers to bacteria.
Before the cans are shipped out Hormel executives do their part to ensure that quality is maintained.
They will sometimes cap off the quality control process with a taste test.
The Process
Sometimes we forget that the foods we enjoy don't just magically arrive on store shelves.
There is a lot of processing that goes into making Spam.
Maybe you don't want to know exactly how Spam makes it into a can, but it wouldn't hurt
to have a general idea.
Plants in Nebraska and Minnesota were responsible for producing all the Spam sold in the United
States.
This changed in 2018 when Hormel decided to sell the Nebraska processing plant to a consortium
of pig farmers.
Spam continues to be popular in the U.S., but it's also popular around the world.
Much of the Spam sold internationally is processed in plants in South Korea, the Philippines,
and Denmark.
When it comes to actually processing the pigs for the meat that will be made into Spam it
isn't a very pretty picture.
The processing plants are set up as quick-moving assembly lines that prepare the large amounts
of pork from the shoulder, thigh, and buttocks.
This is the meat that is to be made into Spam.
As many as 20,000 pigs are processed every day to make Spam.
The Reason for the Recipe
No one would dispute that Spam needs pork to be Spam, but the reasons behind the other
ingredients in this salty staple may not be quite as obvious.
For example, people have questioned the necessity of including sodium nitrate in the recipe
because some sources have identified the compound as a cancer-causing agent.
However, researchers have been able to determine that sodium nitrate itself isn't the culprit
when it comes to cancer.
It's true that an issue can arise, but this is dependent on how the compound is used.
If sodium nitrate is combined with substances that have a high amino acid content and heated,
it can cause problems.
You with us so far?
So, under these conditions, compounds called nitramines are created and it's these compounds
that have been associated with cancer.
Including sodium nitrate in the recipe for Spam is an effective way to discourage the
growth of bacteria that can cause botulism.
Like other food companies, Hormel doesn't want customers getting sick from eating its
products.
It isn't all serious business when it comes to sodium nitrate because the compound is
also the reason Spam sports its distinctive pink color.
Adding sodium nitrate to the pork results in a chemical reaction that gives the canned
meat its familiar appearance.
OK, now science class is over.
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