History of food packaging

Early in history food was consumed where it was found. With the development of agriculture, families and villages were self-sufficient, producing, making and catching what they used. When packaging was needed, nature provided shells, gourds, animal skins etc. In time, containers or packaging were made from natural materials such as reeds, grasses, logs, bark and animal parts. Grasses and reeds were woven into baskets to store food. As ores and metals were discovered, metals and pottery were developed, leading to other packaging forms. An approximate chronology is as follows:

> 20,000 years ago – modified natural materials – grass, reeds, skins
8,000 years ago – ceramics, amphorae, - developed in the Middle East
5,000 years ago – wood, barrels, boxes, crates – wooden boxes found in Egyptian tombs
3,500 years ago – mass produced ceramics, pottery – invention of the pottery wheel
2,500 years ago – glass containers, - glass blowing developed by the Phoenicians and Syrians
2,000 years ago – paper and cellulose fibres - not true paper.

The last 1,000 years has seen many changes and advances in packaging as a result of huge social change. The expansion of trade played a part.

In the 1970s a study of packaging systems in China found that

17.5 percent of the country’s cement was lost during transportation; and
20 percent of all glass was damaged before it could be used.

Similar findings came out of a study in Russia in the 1980s where it was found that lack of packaging, distribution and storage facilities resulted in annual losses of:

45 percent of fresh vegetables – as high as 70 percent of potatoes;
55 percent of fresh fruit;
50 percent of grain;
1 million tons of meat; and
1.5 million tons of fish.

Notable advances in packaging in the 20^th century include

aluminium foil containers – 1950s
aluminium can – 1959
cellulose packaging 1950s
heat shrinkable plastic films – 1958
styrene foam – 1930 –1950s
PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) containers - 1977