author

A. W. (Arvill Wayne) Bitting

1870–1946

A pioneer in food preservation, this veterinarian-physician helped shape early scientific canning in the United States and wrote practical books that brought the subject to a wider public. His work often connected laboratory research with everyday questions about food safety and storage.

2 Audiobooks

Ketchup: Methods of Manufacture; Microscopic Examination

Ketchup: Methods of Manufacture; Microscopic Examination

by A. W. (Arvill Wayne) Bitting, K. G. (Katherine Golden) Bitting

Experiments on the Spoilage of Tomato Ketchup

Experiments on the Spoilage of Tomato Ketchup

by A. W. (Arvill Wayne) Bitting

About the author

Born in Bourbon, Indiana, on May 24, 1870, he studied at Purdue University, then went on to earn a veterinary degree from Iowa State College and an M.D. from Indiana University. That unusually broad training helped him move easily between agriculture, medicine, and food science.

He became known for research and writing on canning, food spoilage, and bacteriology. Among the works associated with him are The Canning of Foods, Canning and How to Use Canned Foods, and studies of tomato ketchup and other preserved foods. His career helped establish a more scientific approach to commercial food preservation at a time when safe canning mattered more and more to public health.

He also worked closely with his wife, Katherine Golden Bitting, a food chemist and noted collector of gastronomic books. After her death, he presented the remarkable collection they had assembled to the Library of Congress, where it became the Katherine Golden Bitting Collection on Gastronomy. He died on April 21, 1946.