People are freaked out after discovering how baked beans are made

14 December 2023 , 15:40

967     0

The UK sells more than 2.5million cans of baked beans every day (stock photo) (Image: In Pictures via Getty Images)

Baked beans are the perfect summary of British cuisine - even though they're mostly imported from the US.

Leading food manufacturer Heinz actually sells more than 2.5million can of beans in the UK every day - and produces around three million per day. Loved for their sugary sauce, bakes beans are the staple of a Full English Breakfast.

Despite their crazy popularity, it turns out people have no idea how they're actually made. That is until a video of the world's biggest baked bean factory, located in Wigan, England, went viral.

The 52-acre facility shed light on exactly how the food, which counts as one of your five a day, are made. And some people have freaked out. Using haricot beans, Heinz rehydrates the legumes that are grown in North America. A secret mixture of spices is added to the can, before machine distributes the sauce.

The beans are then steamed with the sauce inside the sealed can to preserve their nutrients. It takes around two hours to complete the process, before they're packaged in the blue label we all know and love.

Viral sausage roll debate leaves Brits confused about how to order at Greggs

"I did not know that the beans were cooked in the cans," said X (formerly known as Twitter) user Lily Crue. "I didn't know haricot was a type of bean grown in the States." Another gobsmacked user asked: "Why is no one speaking about how canned baked beans aren't actually baked? My life is a lie."

Want to avoid the doom and gloom? Get the latest positive news straight to your inbox with our Bright Stuff newsletter

Earlier this year, scientists celebrated a step closer to British Baked Beans hitting stores - after successfully growing haricots that can cope with the UK's cold climate. Following 12-years of development, researchers harvested the modified beans in September at a farm in Lincolnshire. They hope the groundbreaking advance will cut food imports.

Andrew Ward, who harvested the beans, branded the achievement as an 'absolute' milestone - arguing we import too much food from overseas.

"To be able to produce something that we consume in such great quantities in this country, it's just unbelievable," he added. "We have struggled in the past with the varieties that have been available to us and those varieties have come from other countries where the climate's different to ours."

Did you know baked beans were cooked inside the tin? Let us know in the comments section below

Liam Gilliver