History of food packaging

For millenniums, the most common material used to protect goods were paper and glass. People understood the role of package as meant to protect their product on the way home from market.

Egypt seems to have pioneered food packaging. Mummies were packed with all articles of daily use including food. Egypt was one of the first countries to have used paper (from Papyrus plant).

It is also known that Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians and Turks made bottles by inflating liquid glass in the years B.C. 3000.

There are references how paper was in rise for packaging food as well (that included vegetables and spices). In the prehistoric times, however, only natural materials were available and used for packaging which included leaves, animal skin, bark, coconut shells and dried vegetable skins etc. These materials have been used since the earliest times for domestic storage and local sales of foods. However, with the exception of glazed pottery, they have poor barrier properties and are only used to contain foods and keep them clean.

Subsequently, baskets of reeds, wooden boxes, wooden barrels, woven bags, etc. came into use. Pottery vases, water storage containers came later. Since the early ages of history, people have used packaging to consume, preserve and transport food.

The use of tinplate for packaging dates back to the 18th century. The first corrugated box was produced commercially in 1817 in England. Gair discovered that by cutting and creasing he could make prefabricated paperboard boxes.

The years 1930–1940 were probably the most important decade in the history of plastics as today’s major thermoplastics (PS, PVC and the poly-olefins) were developed.

The use of plastics in food packaging has gone up several folds during the last two to three decades owing to the several advantages offered by them as compared to other materials.

Packaging advancements in the early 20th century included Bakelite closures on bottles, transparent cellophane over wraps, that increased processing efficiency and improved food safety. Aluminum and plastics were also incorporated later.

Traditional packaging couldn't stand the rigors of World War II which led to Military Standard or tough "mil spec" (military specifications) in the 1940s. In the middle of 1940s, further study of synthetic polymers by DuPont chemists synthesized polyethylene terephthalate (known as PET) used for manufacturing of plastic bottles until this day.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) revolutionized food packaging. It has excellent resistance to chemicals (acids and bases), grease, and oil; good flow characteristics; and stable electrical properties. It formed a seal without clinging to itself, food or to the container. It has low permeability to oxygen, water vapors and flavors, however there have been concerns about its toxicity.

The manufacturing technology changed the whole concept of packaging after the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth century when manufacturers were forced to develop more resilient types of protection so the products could be transported from factory to shop and later to customer’s home. In 21st century food packaging has evolved as a specialized industry.
History of food packaging

History of vacuum packaging

In 1940’s invention of vacuum packs to store foods was made. These were first industrial sealers invented and they were small also did not suit the particular requirements of the packaging industry. The vacuum pumps were simply too large and inflexible.

Home vacuum sealers were first invented and made in use by a German inventor named Karl Busch and industrial sealers first in 1963. Karl Busch developed the first vacuum pump to be used for vacuum packaging of foodstuffs, called Huckepack. The first vacuum pump was for the meat packaging industry.

The Busch company was founded in 1963 by Dr.-Ing. Karl Busch and his wife Ayhan Busch. Their goal was to develop a new innovative vacuum pump which would better satisfy the needs of customers. In the year 2006, Busch Vacuum Pumps and Systems has 1700 employees and the broadest product range of vacuum pumps for industrial use. For vacuum and overpressure applications. Modern day vacuum sealers are evolved version of sealers than the basic sealers that were invented.

In 1950’s, vacuum packing was used to store whole turkeys debuting the commercial use of vacuum packing or sealing in the world.

In 1984, Hans Christian invented the modern sealer. The main benefit of the modern sealers is that they offer reduced costs, and are accessible to many home users. They also make it possible for users to preserve and store the leftovers.
History of vacuum packaging

History of Softdrinks Packaging

History of Softdrinks Packaging
Waters from natural springs were recognized as being safe (even healthy) to drink from earliest times and were transported by wherever means that were available.

Naturally carbonated waters were collected into earthenware containers which were tightly sealed with cork and wax, usually not very successfully.

The used of earthenware bottles proved to be unsatisfactory for the more highly carbonated aerated mineral waters and they were soon replaced by glass bottles.

Many of the early glass bottles had round bottoms ensuring that they were stored on their side, thereby keeping the corks moist and so preventing leakage from corks drying out.

The manufacture of glass bottles was a skilled job as they were hand blown.

Although some semi-automation had been introduced earlier, the first patent for an automatic glass bottle blowing machine was granted to Michael J. Owens in the USA in 1904.

High pressure generated inside bottles by the carbonation caused frequent leakage and although improved by wiring-in-place, corks were generally unsatisfactorily. Many alternative forms of seals were patented over the years and these fell broadly into three main categories:

• Wire and rubber sealing devices were especially popular in the USA until the early 1900s. The wire could be either an internal spring form, which held a seal in place on the inside of the neck, or of the external ‘swing’ type, in which an external wire frame was used to hold a ceramic plug in place against a rubber seal. First patented by Charles de Quillfeldt in 1874, this latter type is still currently in use for some specialty.

• Variations on the theme of using an internal ball made from rubber, ebonite or glass were developed and used with varying degrees of success. The ball was held in place by the internal pressure. The most successful of these was patented by Hiram Codd of London. His bottle was widely used in the UK from 1870s until the 1930s. A similar bottle, but with a floating rubber ball acting as seal, was patented in the USA by S. Twitchell in 1883.

• The third popular alternative was the internal screw top bottle. Unlike today’s bottle, the thread was on the inside of the bottle neck and an ebonite or wooden stopper screwed on to the neck, with a rubber washer being used to improve the seal. These types of stoppers were in common usage well into the 1950s in the UK. Ebonite, an early type of plastic resin material soon replaced wood, which has a tendency to absorb moisture, causing it to swell and crack the bottle neck.

A major step forward in sealing development was made by William Painter, who in 1895 patented the ‘Crown Cork’, founding the Crown Cork and Seal Company in 1 April 1892. Although initially slow to gain acceptance for two reasons:

1. The existing large capital investment in returnable bottles and bottling plant, and
2. The need for a tool to remove the crown, the crown cork eventually became popular, especially for small single serve and beer bottles. Screw stopper retained their popularity for the larger bottles where re-sealability was important.
   

Except for specialty earthenware ginger beer containers, glass bottles were the only form of packaging for carbonates for over hundred years until the introduction of cans in the 1960s. Then, just as the second half of the nineteenth century had been ‘boom-time’ for product development, the second half of the twentieth century became ‘boom time’ for packaging and distribution of development.
History of Softdrinks Packaging