The preserving technique used in canning was pefected by a French Confectioner called Nicholas Appert in 1810. He won a prize of 12,000 francs offered by the Fench government for a means of supplying high quality preserved food for the troops. Appert`s method was to heat food to high temperatures in glass jars and seal them with layers of cork.

In the same year in England a man called Peter Durrand adopted the same method but used glass or metal containers resembling tea canisters - hence the term `canning`. This idea was bought by Brian Donkin and John Hall, who established the first canning factory in 1811 in England. They used tin plate instead of steel.

It was Louis Pasteur, the French scientist whose work finally clarified the process. He said that sealing the can was not enough; sterilization was a must to kill any bacteria in it.

By the time of the American Civil War (1861 -5) the canning industry was able to supply millions of cans of food for the troops. The food and drink industry worldwide began to use 175,000 million cans every year.

The first cans had to be opened by hammer and chisel. It was 1855 before a British inventor called Yates patented a claw-shaped device for cutting open cans. His improved opener of 1866 had a blade that was levered with a see saw action around the can. Today`s modern can opener with a butterfly shaped lever rotating a toothed wheel and a blade around the can`s rim was developed in the 1930s.