I think that the author opposes Australian canned meat in Great Britain, as he shows the family looking horrified by it".
The first Australian meat canning works were opened in Sydney by Sizar Elliot. Others soon followed and canned meat became a significant export to Britain. The process for meat canning was invented in the 1790s in France and the first tinned meat was produced in England in 1820. Sizar Elliot pioneered the meat-canning business in Australia.