Who invented the canning process for food preservation?

Nicolas Appert invented the modern food-preservation method that gave rise to canning. In the late 1790s and early 1800s, the French confectioner packed foods into sealed glass containers and heated them in boiling water.

Appert was responding to a 12,000-franc prize offered by the French government for durable food supplies for military and naval use. His method preserved soups, vegetables, meat, fruit, and dairy products, although he did not know that heat destroyed microorganisms. Louis Pasteur explained that connection decades later.

The wording can cause confusion because Appert used glass bottles, not the metal cans associated with modern grocery shelves. British inventor Peter Durand patented a process using tin-coated iron containers in 1810, while Bryan Donkin and John Hall later industrialized production.

Thus Appert is the standard answer for inventing the preservation process, while Durand is associated with adapting it to tin cans. Appert published his method in 1810 and is often called the father of food science.