That contract grew significantly in 1847 when the Admiralty introduced preserved meat as a general ration one day a week.

BBC: The story of how the tin can nearly wasn't

Instead of perfectly preserved beef, they found putrid meat so rotten that the stone floors needed to be coated with chloride of lime to mask the stench, according to an account in the Illustrated London News.

BBC: The story of how the tin can nearly wasn't

The old stone slabs which traders used to cut and sell meat and other produce, like cloth, have been preserved.

BBC: A cultural tour of Bruges