Amoy Canning – connection to WW2 POWs and a particular Englishman?

HF: As part of my research into the Amoy Canning Company I came across the account given below. I don’t know what the Hong Kong POWs were fed but good quality canned food seems unlikely…

• Did the Japanese feed POWs with Amoy “beaned pork” ?
• Who was this unnamed Englishman?
• How did the latter procure the soybeans and tin plate[s] (presumably to make the cans) for Amoy?
• Did Amoy really donate canned food to Britain, and if so this must have been post WW2?

“During the Second World War, most soya sauce factories ran out of raw materials and so competitors had no stock to sell. Amoy Canning, however, had enough sauce to sell and so managed to capture the market in Hong Kong.

The Japanese fed Amoy Canning beaned pork products to British prisoners of war, an ex-POW Englishman was so grateful for the Amoy Canning beaned pork that kept him alive that he resolved to return the favour. Raw materials were in short supply after the war and it was this man who helped procure the soybeans and tin plates – excess inventory left behind by the Japanese – that were needed for production.

As part of the war relief effort, Amoy Canning donated canned food to Britain and got favorable feedback by way of letters and enquiries. Amoy Canning found an agent there and a new export market was born.”
http://www.amocan.com/about-amocan Amoy Canning Singapore website

This article was first posted on 22nd May 2014.

Related Indhhk Articles: Amoy Canning – a brief history since 1908