Packaging is probably not something you spend too much time thinking about. We pick up a product from the shelf at the supermarket and toss it into the trolley without considering the journey this item went on before it reached you.

Innovations in food manufacturing processes affect us all. Take the humble tin of beans for example. We are so used to opening cans with ring pulls that when we are faced with the old type of can with a solid metal top requiring a can opener it feels like an inconvenience. The first self-opening cans graced our shelves back in 2004, and now we can’t imagine life without them!

We have US inventor Ermal Fraze to thank for his invention of the pull-tab opener on drink cans. His invention was patented in 1963 (U.S. patent No. 3349949) and by 1965 over 75% of US breweries were using the pull-tab on their beer cans.

It was in 1951 that Swedish inventor Dr Ruben Rausing introduced the first tetrahedron-shaped carton package for milk. His company, Tetra Pak would transform the way milk was packaged and distributed, making heavy glass bottles a thing of the past. Tetra Pak has evolved to become a multinational food processing company where innovation is central to their success.

When we reach for a plastic bottle of drink from the fridge it is easy to forget that it wasn’t long ago that these bottles would have been made of fragile glass and not lightweight plastic. The engineer Nathaniel Wyeth patented the first plastic bottles (or more accurately polyethylene terephthalate (PET)) in 1973. With their ability to withstand the pressure of carbonated drinks the PET bottles would revolutionise the bottled drinks industry.

Fast forward to the present day and the emphasis is now on recycling and reducing waste. PET drinks bottles are now increasingly manufactured with attached lids so that the plastic bottle and cap can be recycled together.

In a bid to reduce the use of single-use plastics and encourage recycling the food industry seeks to develop more eco-friendly and sustainable packaging. Beverage brand Robinsons is trialling a plant-based Ecopack 500ml carton for its squash which claims to be made from 89% plant-based materials to replace the 1 litre plastic squash bottle.

A slim cardboard sleeve (“responsibly sourced”) has replaced the shrink-wrapped plastic film encasing cans of tuna, and in the confectionery aisle Nestle now claims that its ever-popular KitKat wafer bars now come wrapped in 80% recycled plastic which is also recyclable.

The last decade has seen a marked growth in research and innovation into other more sustainable packaging materials such as biomaterials. US inventors Bayer and McIntyre have developed durable food packaging that is formed from a combination of mushroom mycelia and organic agricultural waste that can be moulded into virtually any type of shape.

There has also been a gradual move towards the use of compostable materials in the food industry. Compostable bags are now widely available in the fruit and vegetable aisles of the supermarket and now come as standard in domestic food waste collection.

Made from natural sources such as potato starch, sugar cane and corn, these products only start to degrade after about 12 months, when triggered by heat, sunlight or mechanical stress, they start to break down into small fragments. This biodegrading process leaves just carbon dioxide, water and humus.

Another example of biodegradable packaging is a bioplastic called MarinaTex, invented by a UK product design student. Manufactured from algae and fish waste it is produced as clear, flexible sheets intended to be a natural substitute for single-use plastic used as plastic bags and food covering. Published patent can be viewed here.

Of course, food packaging is not just about the material covering the food, it is also about what information the consumer can read on the packaging itself.

The use of smart packaging benefits both the consumer and the brand owner. Invented by Japanese company Denso Wave in 1994, the QR code (quick response), is now seen on a huge range of food and beverage products, allowing the consumer to access a wealth of information about the product’s ingredients, nutritional analysis and possible allergens simply by scanning the code with their smart phone and accessing the brand’s website.

The last 60 years have seen huge changes in how our food and drink is packaged. Where technology once brought us revolutionary new materials and clever inventions that made our lives more convenient, today the demands in our world have changed.

Consideration for the environment has led to the food industry having to think smarter and adapt to find new, sustainable production methods and bio-friendly sources for food packaging.