ABSTRACT
The rise of modern food labelling and food packaging have been inextricably bound up with each other since 1810 when Nicolas Appert invented a method for preserving food in sealed glass jars. The initial important advance was the adaption of Appert's method to tinplated cans by Peter Durand in England. By 1814 Durand's patent was operated by the firm of Bryan Donkin and John Hall in Bermondsey, London, to supply vegetable soups and preserved meat to the Royal Navy in tinned canisters. 1 Most food was sold loose and buyers could directly see and feel what they wanted to buy. With packaged food the situation became different; buyers had to be informed in one way or another of its content. Food producers and traders started to affix labels on the packaging indicating the generic name of the product and the firm's name. Food labelling has two essential functions: the promotional function stressing how good and unique the product is, and an informative function indicating the kind of food and its ingredients.
