Playing the latest IC2 for 1.11, I have for the first time started trying to can food automatically and have run into some severe issues. Not bugs, per say, but rather "features" that make the process really annoying. For any who don't know, the canning machines will not allow in more than one empty tin can if the machine already has food in it that requires more than one tin can (like potatoes, which need 6 tin cans). Furthermore if there are already tin cans in the machine and food in the machine, but not enough tin cans, it will export the food if automated to do so (such as with ejector upgrades or buildcraft pipes). This leads to the problem where you cannot effectively automate the machines unless you have the ability to send exact amounts of both food and tin cans.
So the suggestion I make here is, do not export food from the imput slots at all, and allow tin cans to be put in when there is already food in the canning machines.