A review of development in and challenges of thermal processing over the past 200Â years - A tribute to Nicolas Appert

Two hundred years ago Europe was going through a vibrant and turbulent period. It was the middle of the Industrial Revolution where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had profound effects on the socio-economic and cultural conditions. It started in Great Britain and spread through out Europe, eventually affecting the whole world. In Europe, the Napoleonic wars against France by various groups of European allies, were in full swing (1799-1815). At the time, Napoleon was losing more troops to malnutrition and food poisoning, than to military injuries. He recognised that a constant supply of good quality nutritious food was important for his troops and so, in 1795, offered a 12 000 Franc reward (a substantial amount in those days) for anyone who could provide him with a solution. This paper summarises some of the developments that have taken place since then to result in the nutritious high quality canned food we have today.