A brief history of food packaging

People's increasing demand for food packaging is the main driving force for the continuous development of the packaging industry. Since there was food, there was packaging. But the real sense of food packaging should start with the storage of food cans.
The food tank industry originated in the early 19th century. In 1804, Nicolas Appert in France successfully researched the use of glass bottles to preserve foods, which led to the use of cork stoppers as food packaging containers. Since then, the industrial production of glass cans has started. As a result, through continuous improvement and development over a long period of time, a food glass jar with a beautiful appearance and a wide variety of sealing forms has been formed in the food industry.
In 1810, Peter Durand used the tin plate to make food packaging containers, so-called tin cans. At that time, only hand tools were made using tools such as scissors and ferrochrome, and the amount of cans per day was only 60 to 70. In 1847, the United States used a punching machine for blanking the bottom cover of cans. In 1849, the punching machine was officially made and laid the foundation for the manufacture of three-piece cans. In 1859, Europe began to use a can-sealing machine that automatically caps the bottom lid of cans directly on the cans. As a result, the sealing method of tinplate cans is changed from inlay (or external fitting) to tinting and aprons are used instead of seal welding. In 1896, the United States first used liquid rubber instead of a thick rubber ring, and in 1897 it was made into a liquid glue coater. It also improved the sealing curling and used double curling. As a result of continuous improvement, the automatic canmaking machine has been successfully developed. In 1910, the canning capacity per minute has reached 120. The automatic can making machine made in 1930 can produce 300 per minute. The modern automated line can be produced every minute. Up to 1000 or more.
In 1975, the electric welding can-making machine with a width of 0.8mm was made in Switzerland, and in 1978, a resistance welding can-making machine with a can seam width of 0.4mm was made. As a result, the joint condition of the three-piece can body is improved, the manufacturing process of the three-piece cans is updated, and the production of the three-piece cans is greatly improved both in terms of quality and output, and the joint solder is completely eliminated from the process. Can lead contamination. In the production of cans, there is also a new type of three-piece cans with nylon joints.
The stamping process for making two-piece cans was formed in 1847 and later developed from shallow flush tanks to deep-drawing tanks using multi-stage deep drawing methods. As for the deep-drawing technology, the United States first introduced the impact extrusion method in 1964, and in 1968, it introduced the deep drawing and wall thinning method, which resulted in the new development of food packaging containers. Since 1963, the easy opening of various aluminum alloys has also been correspondingly developed.
Can material After the hot dip tin plate (HTP), the appearance of the tin plate (ETP). In 1934, an electroplated tin plate production line was established in Germany. In 1937, the United States produced tin plated plates with a tin plating amount of 5.59 g/m2 for the first time. Based on the superiority of electroplated tin plates, hot-dip tinplates have been replaced to date. In 1930, Norway began using aluminum alloy panels to make packaging containers. In the early 1960s, tin-free steel sheet, TES, was used to make packaging containers to reduce the amount of tin used. We have also tried stainless steel sheets and other materials to make packaging containers.
In addition, a variety of plastics and paper composites are put into can-making to enable food packaging containers to expand from rigid cans to flexible cans. The varieties of packaging containers are more novel, diverse, and practical. The retort pouch used in Japan's first soft canned food market in 1968 was a soft food packaging container made of a composite film made of plastic film and aluminum foil.
In order to increase the use value of food packaging containers and enhance its storage effect on various foods, metal packaging containers have been widely used in interior wall coatings. Canned coatings began in 1903, when an oleo-resin coating was used to prevent the red fruit from fading, and later it was developed to meet the needs of various cans. In addition, color printing coatings outside the tank have also been developed.
In fact, as early as 3,000 years ago, the working people in ancient China used ceramics as pot containers to seal off food. This is described in detail in such books as "Qi Min Yao Shu" and "Great Trades Picked Records". However, the development of food packaging technology in China is very slow, and it does not contribute much to the development of modern food packaging technology. Only after the founding of New China, especially after the reform and opening up began, the packaging industry began to advance by leaps and bounds. At present, it is basically similar to the world level. An overview of the history of China's industrial development, the reason why the development is too slow, mainly due to the long-term slave society and feudal society in China's closed-door, do not attach importance to the development of science and technology. Now, China's packaging industry has become a major industry in all fields. Its future is immeasurable.