MPMA and BBC mark 200 years of the can
The Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association has joined forces with the BBC to help produce two videos which mark the 200th anniversary of the can this year.
Working with Dr Mark Jepson from Loughborough University’s department of materials. How the first tin cans were made recreates the labour intensive manufacture of a single food can. The second video how tin cans are made today shows food can production today at the Crown plant in Leicester where some 10 million cans a day are produced.
In response to the wide interest in the can’s 200th anniversary, MPMA director and chief executive, Nick Mullen, has also taken to the airwaves with appearances on BBC news and general interest programmes taking about the future of cans in particular.
“Much has been made of the past history of this most remarkable invention which changed the lives and eating habits of armies and seafarers and which is now revered as one of the greatest food inventions of all time,” he said.
“But the can also has an assured future: using fully recyclable materials, food cans today are the most perfectly evolved food preservation and storage system to meet the global food distribution challenges of the 21st century and beyond.”
