I stocked up last month on canned organic beans. They were on sale at the Harris Teeter and hurricane season is coming up. I keep several weeks worth of canned beans, tomatoes, and other food on hand in case of disaster, donating any unused cans to the food bank just before the expiration date. Last week, I made Rice Cooker Stew using one of the new cans.
I was shocked to see how few beans were in the can after I'd drained off the liquid: only 1 1/4 cups, a quarter cup less than usual.
The 15-ounce can contained only 8 1/2 ounces of drained beans. The label said the can contained 3.5 servings of 1/2 cup each, or 1 3/4 cups of beans. This serving size would include the liquid, which most people drain off to remove the canned tasted and some of the sodium. Back in 2009, when I last went through this exercise, a 15-ounce can of Bush's conventionally grown black beans contained 1 3/4 cups of drained beans. Harris Teeter put me in touch with Seneca Foods, which said that the cans I got must have had a "slack fill" problem that they will investigate. See details and a comparison of canned vs. dried beans.
I then checked two more varieties from the same manufacturer. The can of chickpeas matched the label: 1 3/4 cups of beans, weighing just over 9 1/2 ounces (272 grams). The can of kidney beans contained 1 1/2 cups of beans, weighing just under 8 1/2 ounces (240 grams).
Bottom line? Two out of three cans underfilled is not the track record you want to base your emergency stores or limited food budget on. The more processed the food, the more opportunities for an innocent slip or a sneaky short. You don't have to worry about "slack fill" in a bag of dried beans bought in the bulk aisle.