Chapter 393: Improvements in Food Production and Preservation

Over a month had passed since Berengar had drafted his plans to improve his Naval Armament over the next few years; however, he had not been focusing on military matters throughout this period. Instead, he had begun inventing certain critical pieces of machinery for food production. 

With the development of the steam engine, mechanized factories were starting to become a reality, and with it, food production would undoubtedly be affected. Until now, it took substantial effort to make bread, which was the staple of the diets for most people. However, with the plans Berengar had drafted over this last month, the struggles in manufacturing bread would become a thing of the past.

In the middle of the Kufstein Industrial district, an enormous warehouse was constructed in years past but was never filled until relatively recently. When Berengar first created his industrial district, he designed it with future factories in mind; many of these empty warehouses were now being filled with equipment and employees. 

This warehouse, in particular, was converted into a bread factory. The machinery that Berengar had so painstakingly manufactured over the past month was now in place. A steam engine connected itself to hemp belts which hung from the rafters and attached themselves to the equipment within the factory thus powering the devices. 

One of these critical pieces of equipment was a mechanical kneading machine. The fundamental principle of the device was that it was designed with hand cranking in mind, where employees would fill the bowl with water and flour, and from there, they would crank the device until the dough was kneaded correctly.

Once kneaded, the machine would then cut out a portion and fill a baking pan which would follow on a conveyor belt until it reached the oven. After it was fully baked, it would then be removed by a baker, who would then use a device to cleanly cut the loaf into slices where It would be packaged and shipped to the market. 

However, with the invention of the steam engine, the hemp belts could be attached to the handle, and the steam engine would power the device without the need for a human to crank it. As such, the cost of bread was about to decrease substantially, allowing people to spend more of their hard-earned money on other items. 

Gunther gazed upon the efficiency of the Bread factory with a satisfied smile on his face. Since he had opened his hemp paper factory many months ago, he had gained significant profits and had begun to invest in other business ventures, such as Kufstein's first bread factory. In fact, the waxed paper used to package the bread came from his other factories.

Standing next to him was the first health inspector of the newly established Federal Administration of Food and Safety, also known as the FAFS. It was the job of government bureaucrats like this man to ensure that the various food processing plants across Austria followed proper protocols to ensure a clean and healthy product was delivered to the markets. 

The man had just finished his search through the factory and was signing off on a document with his fountain pen.  With a smile on his face, Gunther, who was once nothing more than a lowly serf, asked the government bureaucrat the question on his mind. 

"So? How did we do?"

The bureaucrat looked over the paper before signing off his signature one final time. After doing so, he reached out his hand to congratulate Gunther for passing the first inspection.

"Mr. Gunther, I am proud to announce that you have passed the initial examination; if you and your employees continue to operate the facility with such hygiene, then I am certain that my future visits will be a pleasant one."

Upon hearing this, Gunther sighed heavily in relief; he was worried that he might be shut down before he had even begun production. Luckily that was not the case, and he passed the inspection. As such, he grasped ahold of the bureaucrat's hand and shook it with a wide grin on his face. 

"Thank you very much; I will ensure to maintain this level of cleanliness in the future so we won't have any problems!"

After hearing this, the bureaucrat pulled back his hand and returned to a stoic gaze as he made one final comment before departing.

"Be sure that you do! Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go check on a meat processing plant that has opened up nearby."

After saying this, the bureaucrat left Gunther behind and continued his work at the meat processing plant. By the time this bureaucrat arrived at his destination, he was astounded to see the clean environment that was in the facility. 

Because people had now become aware of germs, they were taking every safety precaution available to them to ensure that the equipment they operated on was sterile. Especially now that there was a government department whose sole purpose was to ensure such protocol was followed.

Berengar was a stickler for healthy food; he did not want to see his people getting sick from what they eat, nor did he want companies to sell the rotten products. As such, he had established severe penalties for knowingly violating these laws.

If a company wanted to cut costs by selling rotten food, the owner would face up to life imprisonment within a labor camp, though generally, such a stiff sentence would only be carried out if someone died from the tainted product. 

The meat production facility followed a relatively modern process of food production. Berengar knew so much about the safety and presentation of food because his father from his past life worked in a cannery. He was filled with stories in his childhood of how it all functioned. 

The meat arrived fresh from the farms at the factory, where skilled butchers trimmed the excess fat off. After the trimming was complete, the meat was brought to a dicing machine, which cut it into one-inch-thick cubes, from there, it was sorted into tin cans, where the only additive to the process was a single cube of sea salt. 

After this had been completed, workers carefully added or removed pieces of meat to ensure that it reached the required weight. From there, the cans entered a conveyor belt, where they were led to the cook room.

After this, the cans entered a pre-heater which blasted them with steam for 20 seconds, removing any trapped air between the cubes. From there, they were led to the pressing machine, which compressed the tin lid onto the can with a proper headspacing that created a vacuum on the can to draw out any remaining air. 

From there, the cans were led to a machine that sealed the cans with a process known as double seaming. The process rolled the rim and lid together, forming an airtight seal. From there, the cans were lowered into a commercial-size pressure cooker. After the cans had been thoroughly cooked, they would then be set aside to cool and dry for roughly an hour. 

This process resulted in preserved, salted meat that could last up to five years of shelf life. By doing this, the price of meat decreased drastically, and the people of Austria could have food on their shelves that could be eaten at any time. 

Having observed the entire process; the bureaucrat signed off on the meat packaging plant as just one of the multiple food processing plants on his list of inspections. The man and his colleagues had much work to be done; as Kufstein further industrialized and the other cities trailed behind it, these inspections would become increasingly necessary. 

The industrial revolution was not just about military buildup but the betterment of society as a whole, or at least that is how Berengar perceived it. After all, just five years ago the people of Austria were living as serfs, breaking their backs on the farms. Now Austria had become a bastion of wealth, and prosperity that all other countries had begun to envy. 

Eventually, the reports from these bureaucrats would make their way to Berengar's desk; luckily for him, he would not have to do anything but smile every time he saw another food processing plant receive a proper grading for their inspection.

As for the ones who failed their examination? That was a problem for the Federal Administration of Food and Safety to solve. Berengar had set up a robust government branch to handle that for him. If he genuinely needed to intervene, it would be some form of disaster that he did not even want to think about. 

Thus everything progressed smoothly as Austria rapidly transitioned into the Industrial Age. Under the guise of King Berengar von Kufstein, the Kingdom of Austria entered a new era of prosperity and growth the likes the world had never seen before. 

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