While some fruits and vegetables are hand picked much produce, including peas and tomatoes, is mechanically harvested. All produce is then carefully inspected for quality at the food canning plants. The product is prepared with minimal, careful handling. Computer controls increase efficiency and product quality. Canned soup preparation is similar to preparing home-made soup.
Meat is cooked in water and stock and vegetables are added along with herbs, spices and flavouring.
The soup may be thickened with starch or flour. The cans are filled with soup and sealed and then sterilised in retorts. After cooling, the cans are labelled, put into cartons or shrink wrapped and stored on pallets in warehouses, before they are distributed to both domestic and international retail outlets. The cans are left in storage for short periods, to allow time for longer term quality assurance tests to be carried out. The bar code Supermarkets in Australia are equipped with laser scanners which can read the bar codes on the can labels.