If you were having a problem with jars bursting, I suspect you were using a water bath canner. You need a pressure cooker to can meats. Either that, or your lids were not sealing properly. If you were canning fatty meats, the fat may have gotten between the lid and the jar while you were processing it.

Be sure to trim as much fat as possible off the meat before canning. For ground meat, and in fact most meats, lightly brown the meats in little or no oil before canning. Yes, you can also can meatballs, just make them about golf ball size or smaller, just lightly brown on all sides in very little oil.

Onward and upward,
airforce