HISTORY

The solution to the problem of food preservation in time has been, from a historical perspective, one of the major challenges mankind has faced from the point of view of ensuring their livelihood

The final solution was not achieved until the time of the French Revolution, thanks to the invention of the Frenchman Nicolás Appert, who had the bright idea of cooking the food in boiling water in hermetically sealed glass containers. By combining these elements, a type of food was created, whose conservation was ensured for long periods of time without needing special storage conditions, something totally remarkable in those days.

But it was in England where the new metal container was introduced. Thus, Peter Durand experimented with tin, packaging the food still warm and hermetically sealing it with a lid of the same material as the can. Tinplate offered several improvements both regarding production and the indefinite preservation of the final product, since compared to the translucent glass, it offered better protection against light.

Canned products were introduced in Spain in a curious way when the wreck of a French sailboat off the Galician Costa da Morte proved the existence of these products. It took only a year to adapt the tradition of sardine salting and smoking in the area and the first cannery was opened.

The initiative quickly spread throughout Spain. In a few years more facilities were created in order to help stabilise the industry by increasing the quality and placing Spain as a world reference. Our country is currently one of the largest producers of canned fish and seafood worldwide, with a great international recognition.