ABSTRACT
The idea of using a sealed vessel as an integral part of food preservation process rather than as a merely convenient storage receptacle was seized upon and developed by the Frenchman M. Nicolas Appert, the recognized father of the canned foods industry. Appert began his own food packing plant in 1812 using glass bottles and jars to help supply the armies and navies of Napoleon. Better food preservation was the most immediate effect resulting from the development of the hermetically sealed container. Appert's pioneering experiments depended upon the sustained application of high heat and the complete exclusion of air to achieve the preservation of animal and vegetable products within sealed containers. For glass containers, distinctions between commercial closures and those associated with home processing are usually safe to make, although some commercial forms did find limited use by home canners, such as the hermetic and crown caps.
