While canned food may get a bad reputation today for not being ‘fresh’, it has been and remains a critical source of nourishment in many parts of the world. Indeed, canned food has many benefits, including acting as a preservative and providing a protective container for transportation. In 1809, Nicolas Appert, a French confectioner and brewer, observed that food cooked inside a jar did not spoil unless the seals leaked, and developed a method of sealing food in glass jars. It radically transformed what the average person ate. Appert was awarded the prize in 1810 by Count Montelivert, a French minister of the interior.
