Nicolas Appert was born on November 17, 1749, and died on June 1, 1841. He was a French candy maker and inventor who created a method to keep food safe by sealing it in airtight containers during the early 1800s. Appert, called the "father of food science," explained his invention as a way to "preserve all types of food in containers."

Early life

Appert was born in Châlons-en-Champagne, the ninth of eleven children. His family owned an inn in the town, and he worked there until he was twenty years old. At that time, he started a brewery with one of his brothers. Later, he worked as a chef for Christian IV, who was a nobleman in Zweibrücken, for thirteen years. From 1784 to 1795, Appert was a confectioner and chef in Paris. During this time, he married Elisabeth Benoist, and the two had four children.

Appert was active during the French Revolution and helped in the execution of King Louis XVI. However, during the Reign of Terror, he was suspected of wrongdoing and was arrested in April 1794. He avoided being executed. In 1795, he began testing ways to preserve food. He successfully preserved soups, vegetables, juices, dairy products, jellies, jams, and syrups. He placed the food in glass jars, sealed them with cork and sealing wax, and then put them in boiling water. Later, he used a machine called an autoclave instead. Some people think this method was already used by homemakers, but Appert was the first to use it on a large scale.

Thermal processing (canning)

In 1804, La Maison Appert (The House of Appert) in Massy, near Paris, became the first food bottling factory in the world. This happened many years before Louis Pasteur proved that heat could kill bacteria. Appert started a business to preserve different types of food in sealed bottles. At first, he used champagne bottles, which were not sealed well using a mix of cheese and mineral lime. Later, he changed to using thick, large-mouthed glass bottles filled with many kinds of food, such as beef, fowl, eggs, milk, and prepared dishes. Appert avoided using tinplate in his early work because the quality of French tinplate was poor. He left space at the top of the bottle, then used a vise to press the cork firmly into the bottle. The bottle was wrapped in canvas for protection, then placed in boiling water and boiled for as long as Appert thought was needed to cook the food thoroughly. Canning is sometimes called "appertization" in honor of Appert, which is different from pasteurization.

Even though Appert had technical successes, he faced financial problems because his equipment was expensive and he was not a skilled businessman. He declared bankruptcy in 1806 but continued his business. In 1795, the French army offered a prize of 12,000 francs for a new method to preserve food. In 1806, Appert showed bottled fruits and vegetables at the Exposition des produits de l'industrie française but did not win any reward. In 1810, the Bureau of Arts and Manufactures of the Ministry of the Interior gave Appert a special payment of 12,000 francs, but only if he shared his process publicly. Appert agreed and published a book titled L'Art de conserver les substances animales et végétales (The Art of Preserving Animal and Vegetable Substances). Six thousand copies of the book were printed in 1810, making it the first book of its kind on modern food preservation methods.

Appert never fully understood why his method worked because the science of bacteriology had not yet been developed. However, his method was simple and quickly became widely used. In 1810, British inventor Peter Durand patented his own method, which used tin cans, leading to the modern process of canning. In 1812, Englishmen Bryan Donkin and John Hall bought both patents and began producing preserved foods.

Later life

Appert's financial situation did not improve despite receiving a government grant. His problems worsened when Prussian and Austrian forces destroyed his factory in Massy at the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1814. With help from the French government, which provided free rent, Appert opened a new factory in Paris to make food in tin cans. This factory remained open for ten years until the government forced him to leave in December 1827.

People liked Appert's canned food, especially naval services, because it was much better than the dried and salted food they used before. His cans were sold in Bavaria and Saint Petersburg and received praise in French newspapers. However, he did not become wealthy. He received silver and gold medals from the Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale in 1816 and 1820, but he did not get the 2,000 francs linked to these medals until 1824.

In 1828, Appert opened another factory in Paris. He asked Louis Philippe I to let him join the Legion of Honour but was refused, possibly because of his actions during the Revolution. Feeling insulted, he retired in 1836 at the age of 86. Although the government gave him a yearly pension of 1,200 francs starting that year, he died in poverty in 1841 and was buried in a pauper's grave.

Posthumous honors

In 1955, a French postage stamp was created to honor him. In 1985, a street in Paris, called Rue Nicolas-Appert, was built and named in his memory. Many other streets in France are also named after him. In 1991, a large bronze statue of Appert, made by artist Jean-Robert Ipousteguy, was placed in Châlons-en-Champagne. In 1986, a plaque was placed on the building where he was born. A room at the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Châlons-en-Champagne was set aside to celebrate his life and work. A high school in Orvault, France, is named after Nicolas Appert. In 2010, the French Ministry of Culture declared it Nicolas Appert Year, a special event to honor his achievements. The Principality of Monaco released a postage stamp featuring Appert. An exhibition titled "Mise en boîte" was held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Châlons-en-Champagne.

Nicolas Appert Award

Since 1942, the Chicago section of the Institute of Food Technologists has presented the Nicolas Appert Award every year. This award honors individuals who have made significant lifetime achievements in the field of food technology.

Study association

The student group for Food Technology at Wageningen University is named Nicolas Appert. Since 1962, this group has worked to improve courses in food technology and holds many events each year for students and graduates. In 2022, the group celebrated its 12th lustrum.