Recently, two news that canned food has been popularized by astronauts and college students have spread like wildfire. Although it is quite a sword, it seems that people can see the vitality of canned food. At the same time, there is no shortage of industry. Useful revelation.
 
News 1: As a favorite of British college students, few people know about the nutrition of canned food and the advantages of recycling and regeneration of metal cans.

Figure 1 More than 90% of college students have canned food in their kitchen cabinets at any time, among which canned sweet beans (38%), canned tomato sauce (33%), and canned soup (24%) are ranked as the must-have items. Three, and next is canned fish (20%), such as canned tuna or salmon.

According to a survey of 2,000 UK university students commissioned by the British Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association (MPMA), more than 90% of them have canned food in their kitchen cabinets at all times, with canned sweet beans (38% ), canned tomato sauce (33%), and canned soup (24%) as a must-have item, followed by canned fish (20%), such as canned tuna or salmon.
But the survey also shows that the vast majority of students are unaware of the many benefits of canned food beyond convenience and cost-effectiveness.

About 93% of students said they were not aware that canned fruits and vegetables met the nutrient requirement of “at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day” recommended by relevant organizations. 84% of students mistakenly believe that the long shelf life of canned food is due to preservatives.

The students’ understanding of the advantages of metal packaging recycling and recycling needs to be strengthened. The survey shows that only 41% of students know that metal cans are 100% recyclable, and 39% of students believe that metal cans are one of the packaging materials with the highest recycling rate. Only 15%.

The association’s spokesperson said it’s exciting to see canned food become the focal point of student kitchens, and students and parents will be more excited if they know that they also meet nutritional needs and are packaged in an environmentally friendly way. It is reported that in order to facilitate students to use canned food to make quick, convenient and nutritious food, the related website (www.cannedfood.co.uk/recipes) also provides student recipes.
 
News 2: Nutritious and delicious aluminum can packaged food solves “space anorexia” and replenishes nutrition and energy for astronauts in a timely manner.

Figure 2 As a well-known French canned meat sauce and cooked meat brand, Hénaff cans favored by astronaut Pesquet are packaged in aluminum cans from international canning giant Ardagh.

Delicious nutrition makes canned food an excellent choice for space food. Spaceflight has negative effects on the human body, including: osteoporosis, intramuscular atrophy, and depletion of nutrient stores such as protein, fat, and vitamin D. An optimal diet coupled with regular exercise is necessary to counteract these effects.

Studies have shown that people consume less energy in space than on Earth, and some people even call it “space anorexia.” Over the years, space food has undergone continuous development in order to meet nutritional requirements and improve astronaut morale.

It is understood that the taste of eating in space is very different from that on Earth, which makes people have a bad appetite. Because weight gain is rare for astronauts, aviation physicians always ask astronauts for their input when setting menus, ensuring a balanced diet keeps them energized for space work and a smooth return to Earth.

Thomas Pesquet is a French astronaut for the European Space Agency. He raved about the can of Hénaff, who made his mark while working on the International Space Station this summer.

As a well-known French brand of canned meat sauces and cooked meats, Hénaff cans, which are favored by Pesquet, are packaged in aluminum cans from Ardagh, an international canning giant.

Among the dishes French chef Thierry Marx was invited to design for Pesquet included canned Lucullus beef tongue, fresh mushroom chicken, and compressed gingerbread with tropical fruits. The mouth-watering treats are prepared, prepared and sealed by a dedicated team at Hénaff and are said to have brought considerable delight to Pesquet and five other ISS colleagues.

British astronaut Tim Peake ate canned bacon sandwiches made by chef Heston Blumenthal. The chef’s self-created restaurant has been well-received by traditional restaurant rating systems, and he has also made a name for himself by actively promoting and promoting molecular cuisine on television.

Inherent advantages of aluminum cans Laurent Cordier, sales director of the metals division of the Ardagh Group, does not deny that the appearance of aluminum cans in space is one of the very rare applications. “But from another point of view, it is also showing some inherent advantages of aluminum cans, such as: light weight; easy to open; no preservatives, food flavor remains intact; no refrigeration, compact storage, etc. How favorable the food supply is.”

Diet Tracker in Space In daily life, dieters or those who are keen on health use mobile APPs to track the food they eat. Now that the trend has moved from Earth to space, European astronauts are loading each meal into tablets to ensure they’re getting the right amount of nutrients.

EveryWear is an iPad-based application that is mainly used as a food diary. It is simple to operate. Astronauts only need to scan the QR code of the food with the built-in tablet camera, and then classify it as breakfast, lunch or snack, and replenish all enough water intake.

The tool has an added value: it connects astronauts with nutrition experts on Earth some 400 kilometers away. Once the information is received by the ground team, it can make recommendations on the best food combinations required for healthy travel in space.

Figure 3 Canned chicken with lemon sauce floats on the International Space Station as part of an ESA energy experiment.
 
Epilogue
For a long time, some consumers’ misunderstanding of canned food has made it labeled as “stale and unhealthy”, which has become one of the obstacles to the rapid development of the canned food industry in the domestic market. “Stones from other hills, can learn”. Two pieces of news tell us that, as a traditional food with a history of more than 200 years, canned food needs to constantly give new ideas to the times, but also adhere to the “original intention”-convenience, deliciousness, nutrition and health, so as to find and open new market opportunities.

Further reading
Consumers’ misunderstandings make canned food suffer “Dou E’s injustice”
Over the years, the Chinese people’s misunderstanding of canned food has caused it to suffer “not white injustice” comparable to Dou E. Specifically, consumers’ misunderstanding of canned food is manifested in the following two aspects.

Canned food contains preservatives and is unhealthy. Due to the good sealing and strict sterilization process of metal packaging, the shelf life of canned food is longer than that of other packaged food, but ordinary consumers who do not know the inside often mistakenly believe that this is due to the addition of preservatives.

It can be said that the formal canned production process does not require the addition of preservatives at all to achieve commercial sterility of food.
Canned food is stale and nutritious. Canned food with a long shelf life also makes many consumers mistakenly believe that canned food is not fresh, and would rather choose to purchase so-called “fresh” fruits directly from the market.

In fact, in order to reduce raw material procurement and logistics costs, canned food manufacturers often build canning production lines in raw material bases, which is equivalent to “purchasing and making now” from their own backyards. In this way, the cost is reduced, and fresh seasonal raw materials are made into canned food in a relatively short period of time. Taking canned fruit as an example, the whole process from raw material picking to canning and sterilization can take no more than 6 hours, which can be locked to the greatest extent. the freshness and nutrition of the food.

However, the “fresh” fruits on the market take many days from picking, transporting, to listing and selling, and nutrients are continuously lost. According to an industry report, the loss of vitamin C from yellow peaches one day after picking is much higher than the loss of canned peaches.

Canned food occupies a prominent position in British supermarkets. The ingredients in it are all cooked, and some have been directly adjusted to taste. It is convenient and quick to add it directly to the food when cooking, and it has been sterilized by high temperature without preservatives. agent, and the storage time is very long.
The following list is basically the standard configuration of each supermarket. In addition, each supermarket will also produce some unique brands.
 
Canned Beans

Figure 1 Various canned beans

The variety of canned beans in the UK is very rich. In addition to the well-known Heinz brand, each supermarket will also have its own brand. Here are a few common canned beans.

Canned Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce is the soybean in the English breakfast. Because of the addition of tomatoes to make juice, it tastes sour, sweet and glutinous. It is generally popular in the UK and can be found in basically any supermarket.

Figure 2 Canned Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce

Canned kidney beans As the name suggests, kidney beans are shaped like kidney beans and come in white and red. They are soft in taste, rich in nutrients and high in protein and vitamins.

Fig. 3 Kidney bean

Canned chickpeas are very common ingredients in Europe, and also one of the staple foods in India and Pakistan, the former British colonies. Chickpeas are not big, and have the smell of chestnut. High nutritional value, rich in protein, fiber and unsaturated fat.

Fig. 4 Chickpeas

Canned Cotton Beans The cotton beans are white, one of the best in beans, and taste sweet and salty like butter. Like other beans, it is very low in fat and rich in protein, fiber and trace elements.

Canned black beans can always be found on the health food list, and many Mexican restaurants often use black beans as the filling for Taco or rolls.

Canned black eyed beans have a hard taste. The most common way to eat black eyed beans is to make hot sauce with pork and tomatoes to match rice or rolls.

Figure 5 Black Eyed Beans

Canned vegetable

In British supermarkets, there are various kinds of canned vegetables that are cut and prepared directly, such as peeled peas (or mashed peas); Chopped carrots, small potatoes (or mashed potatoes); Boiled sweet corn kernels; Sliced mushrooms, tomatoes, celery, beetroot, beans.

In addition, there are some vegetable sauces, such as vegetable sweet sauce (chutney, or pickle). Pickle in the UK generally refers to vegetable sweet sauce (pickle may be directly used in the United States to call pickled cucumbers). It refers to putting all kinds of cut beet roots, cauliflower, onions, carrots, etc. into a sweet sauce made of vinegar, apples, tomatoes and spices, which can be used to spread bread when eating. Branston is a famous brand. Chutney also uses fruit to make sauce.

Fig. 6 Vegetable sweet sauce

Canned fruit

The variety of canned fruits is very rich, including peaches, pears, prunes, tangerines, strawberries, mangoes, pineapples, apricots, apples, grapefruit, various berries, etc. Basically, all fruits can be found in the corresponding cans. There is also a canned mixed fruit with maple sugar, called mixed fruit.

Fig. 7 Canned fruit

canned fish

Canned fish is also a very popular food in British supermarkets, with high nutritional value, rich in protein, unsaturated fat and omega-3!

Canned Tuna Fish Tuna fish generally has several kinds with brine, soaked in water or put in oil. Fish can be served with salads, sandwiches or wrapped in rolls.

Canned sardine sardine are small, usually several of them are put into cans, either steamed or fried, and then stored in oil.

Figure 8 sardine

Canned Salmon The canned salmon (Salmon) can has a lot of fish meat piece by piece, and a lot of minced fish meat, with pink and red colors.

The meat of small herring canned small herring (Sprats) is grayish white, similar to sardine. Canned fish sold in supermarkets are pickled with sauce or smoked, and then stored in oil. The fish is very small. There are dozens of small fish in a small can. The fish is soft.

Fig. 9 Small herring

Canned ready to eat food

Canned hot dogs are quite common. They are hot dog sausages, which are usually put in brine.

Fig. 10 Canned hot dogs
Canned beef generally includes ground beef, minced beef, beef stew, beef jerky, beef sauce, beef stew with vegetables (with carrots, potatoes, celery), etc.

Canned pork usually has sausages, meatballs (some will be marinated with sauce), bacon, cut breakfast meat and pork.

Canned chicken includes chicken marinated directly with sauce, very minced chicken sauce (which can be directly spread on bread), and chicken of various styles, such as curry chicken, spicy roast chicken (roasted chicken lumps, and then a layer of orange hot sauce).

Photo 11 Canned chicken

In addition to meat, other canned foods include mutton chop, English breakfast, various pies, meat puddings, prepared pasta or ravioli.

Canned milk

Condensed milk can Condensed milk is the material obtained after 60% of the water is evaporated from the milk. It is thicker, darker, and has a longer shelf life than fresh milk, which can be several months in general. Condensed milk can be used to make cheese, desserts, cakes, ice cream, milkshakes, etc.

Fig. 12 Canned condensed milk

In addition, there is also a kind of canned sweet condensed milk, that is, some sugar is added on the basis of condensed milk, so there will be a little caramel in the taste. The texture is thicker and the color is darker.

Canned coconut milk The texture of canned coconut milk is more viscous than that of fresh coconut milk. It has the texture of ice cream and butter, and is very suitable for making desserts. In addition, some coconut milk will be added to the curry of Thai food to ease the spicy taste of the curry.

Photo 13 Canned coconut milk
Canned sauces and soups

All supermarkets in Britain have a wide range of canned sauces, curry sauces, Mexican hot sauces, vegetable sweet sauces, and various kinds of meat sauces that can be used for cooking or spread on bread.

Figure 14 Canned sauce

The basic soup cans include chicken soup, tomato soup, vegetable soup (including Italian assorted vegetable soup), oxtail soup, mushroom soup, gravy, and soup with various vegetables, meat, macaroni, beans, etc.

Metal cans are modern fast food, a can is portable, and disaster-resistant sailing and mountain-climbing expeditions all rely on it.

So what material are metal cans made of? Nowadays, the packaging materials of metal cans are all tin-plated iron sheets. The tin-plated layer has strong corrosion resistance, and the steel ensures the mechanical strength of the packaging. And these metal cans are also called tinplate cans, but tinplate is not iron, but tinned steel.

The main advantages of tin-plated steel plate are: soft, easy to bend, stretch, punch, lighter in weight than glass jars, not easy to break, easy to carry, transport and store, good thermal conductivity, short sterilization time, not easy to be used when the temperature changes sharply rupture.

The general thickness of tin-plated steel sheet is about 0.15 to 0.30mm.

Tin is a low melting point metal with silvery white metallic luster, pure tin is soft, the content in the earth’s crust is 0.004%, and almost all exist in the form of cassiterite (tin oxide);

As one of “hardware” (gold, silver, copper, iron, tin), tin has been used by humans as early as 2000 BC;

The general thickness of tin-plated steel sheet is about 0.15 to 0.30mm.

Tin is a low melting point metal with silvery white metallic luster, pure tin is soft, the content in the earth’s crust is 0.004%, and almost all exist in the form of cassiterite (tin oxide);

As one of “hardware” (gold, silver, copper, iron, tin), tin has been used by humans as early as 2000 BC;

At present, tin is mainly used in the manufacture of solder, tinplate, alloys, chemical products, etc. The products are widely used in electronics, information, electrical appliances, chemical industry, metallurgy, building materials, food packaging, machinery, atomic energy and aerospace industries.

Reduction of Tin

The tin on the inner wall of the tinplate will interact with the oxygen remaining in the container during filling, reducing the chance of the food ingredients being oxidized. The reduction effect of tin has a good preservation effect on the flavor and color of light-colored fruits, juices and other foods. According to experiments, juice cans packed with unpainted metal cans have better nutritional preservation than juice cans packed with other packaging materials. The browning changes slightly, the acceptance of flavor quality is better, and the storage period is prolonged.

More: Automatic Conical Pail Production Line

In today’s life, tin gift boxes have become an inseparable and inseparable part of our lives. Looking at these beautifully crafted tin gift boxes, we can’t help but ask how these tin gift boxes are produced. The following is a detailed introduction to the manufacturing and production process of tin gift boxes by Jiujiang Yixin Technology Co., Ltd.

1. Overall Design
For any product, especially packaging products, the appearance design is its soul. Any packaged product must not only protect the contents to the greatest extent, but also attract the attention of customers in appearance, so the design is particularly important. Design drawings can be provided by customers, or can be designed by the can factory according to customer requirements.

2. Prepare Iron
The general production material of tin gift boxes is tinplate, that is, tin-plated steel sheet. The content and specification of tin-plated material should meet the quality requirements of “National Tin-plated Sheet Steel” (GB2520). Generally, after confirming the order, the most suitable iron material, iron material variety, size, etc. will be ordered according to the near layout drawing. The iron material is usually stored directly in the printing factory. For the identification of the quality of the iron material, the usual visual inspection method can be used to see the surface. Whether there are scratches, whether the lines are uniform, whether there are rust spots, etc., the thickness can be measured with an equal micrometer, and the hardness can be felt by hand.

3. Mould Making and Proofing
The mold room makes product molds according to the design drawings, and submits the samples to the production department for trial mold production.

4. Typesetting and Printing
It should be noted here that the printing of iron materials is different from other packaging printing. It is not first cut and then printed, but first printed and then cut. Both the film and the layout map are arranged and printed by the printing factory after the printing factory. Usually, a template is provided for the printing factory to follow the color. During the printing process, it is important to pay attention to whether the printing color can follow the template, whether the set is accurate, and whether there is any stains, scars, etc. These problems are generally in charge of the printers themselves. There are also some can factories that have their own printing plants or printing equipment.

5. Iron Cutting
Cut the printed iron material on the cutting lathe. Cutting is a relatively simple part of the canning process.

6. Stamping: that is, pressing the iron material on the punching machine, which is the most important part of can making. Usually, a can can be completed in multiple processes.

• The general process of the two-piece can of Tiandi cover is: cover: cutting – flashing – winding. Bottom cover: cutting material – flashing – pre-rolling line – winding line.
• Tiandi cover and bottom process (bottom sealing) the process of the tank, the lid: cutting material – flashing – winding line The body of the tank: cutting material – pre-bending – cutting angle – forming – buttoning – punching body (bottom buttoning) – bottom sealing. The bottom process is: opening.
  In addition, if the tin can is hinged, then the lid and the body each have one more process: hinged.
  In the stamping process, the loss of iron materials is usually the largest. It is necessary to pay attention to whether the work operation is standardized, whether the surface of the product is scratched, whether the coil has batch seams, and whether the buckle position is fastened. Arrange the production of large sample confirmation, and produce according to the confirmed large sample, which can reduce a lot of trouble.

7. Packaging:
After the stamping is completed, it is time to enter the finishing touch. The packaging department is responsible for cleaning and assembling, into plastic bags and packing. This link is the finishing work of the product. The cleaning of the product is very important, so the work should be cleaned before packaging, and then packaged according to the packaging method. For products with many styles, the model number and box number must be properly placed. What should be paid attention to in the packaging process is quality control, to minimize the flow of defective products into finished products, and the number of boxes must be accurate.

More: 0.1L-5L Round Can Production Line

For a long time, the packaging image of domestic canned lunch meat products has been solidified as the mainstream of tinplate rectangular three-piece cans with longitudinal welds (hereinafter referred to as “three-piece rectangular iron cans”) and matching tinplate rectangular easy-open lids, supplemented by Imported aluminum rectangular deep-drawn two-piece cans (hereinafter referred to as “two-piece rectangular aluminum cans”) and matching aluminum rectangular easy-open lids. Both types of packaging seem to have fallen into an innovation dilemma in terms of eliminating application pain points and improving retail shelf effects, not to mention the increase in the added value of consumer products.

Application pain points of three-piece rectangular iron can and two-piece rectangular aluminum can

Three-piece rectangular iron can application pain points Three-piece rectangular iron cans and matching rectangular iron lids have brought two stubborn problems: on the one hand, the welding seam area of ​​​​the can body and the easy-opening lid engraving area are prone to vulcanization and contaminate food; on the other hand , the iron cover makes it difficult for ordinary consumers to open, resulting in a decrease in user friendliness.

Application pain points of two-piece rectangular aluminum cans Although importing two-piece rectangular aluminum cans and matching rectangular aluminum lids can solve the above problems, there are still some application pain points, which are highlighted in the following four aspects.

First, because the empty cans cannot be nested, and long-distance transportation will cause the cost to rise sharply, resulting in limited sales scope.

Second, it is not easy to demould, and it is easy to damage the original shape of the luncheon meat.

Third, because the aspect ratio is greater than 1, it is difficult to control the printing deformation after the container is formed if the sheet is printed before stretching, and there is no supporting printing equipment that can directly print on the can body.

Fourth, import costs are high. This has also resulted in the limited application of this type of packaging in the domestic canned luncheon meat market—most of the canned luncheon meat in two-piece rectangular aluminum cans currently sold in China are still imported products, or foreign brands produced in China .

Conical two-piece square aluminum can: integrates many advantages such as nesting and easy release

In view of this, our R&D team, after repeated research and tests, has developed an aluminum square expanded neck belt taper stretched two-piece can F862 (utility model patent: ZL202020883373.9; appearance patent: ZL202030645142.X, hereinafter referred to as “conical” Two square aluminum cans”), and the exclusive matching F88mm square aluminum high-temperature cooking and easy-opening lid (utility model patent: ZL202020886205.5; appearance patent: ZL202030646351.6, hereinafter referred to as “square cooking-resistant aluminum lid”), except for the It completely solves the application pain points of the aforementioned two types of packaging, and can also give consumers a visual impact from the appearance of the packaging, and at the same time, it also brings unexpected dish presentation effects on the consumer side.

Figure 1 Aluminum conical expanded neck square two-piece can and matching square aluminum high temperature cooking easy-open lid

The advantages of the positive piece-shaped retort-resistant aluminum cover Compared with the traditional rectangular iron cover, the aluminum cover is easier to open; at the same time, it also eliminates the problem of oxidation and rust of the engraved line and the edge of the roll seal caused by long-term shelf storage. In addition, since the inner and outer rivet areas and the engraved area of ​​the aluminum cover do not need to be repainted, the production cost is lower than that of the iron cover, and the process is more environmentally friendly.

Advantages of the conical two-piece square aluminum can First, because the can body is stamped and formed in one piece, the problem of food contamination caused by the vulcanization of the welded seam of the three-piece iron can is completely solved.

Second, the tapered body and neck flare design brings many of the following benefits. First, demoulding lunch meat is no longer a problem. The second is that the taper can body can be nested, which greatly reduces the cost of empty can transportation, so that there is basically no geographical difference between food manufacturers and can manufacturers. The third is to use telescopic automatic canning technology (the gap between the can walls is sufficient to avoid scratches on the coating) in the process of canning collection and packaging and canned food filling, which can reduce waste and defective products during packaging and transportation. Rate.

Third, since the height-diameter ratio is less than 1, the square can can be directly printed on the sheet material before being punched into shape; coupled with the eye-catching design that is different from traditional products, the shelf impact of canned products is significantly enhanced, which helps in brand promotion. It should be noted that the capacity of the square cans that our company has brought to the market is the same as the traditional rectangular three-piece cans.

Fourth, the shape of the luncheon meat poured from the square jar breaks the tradition and is more beautiful. At the same time, it brings better dishes presentation and platter effect to the terminal consumption places such as central kitchens, restaurants, hotels, etc., which is expected to improve the traditional canned luncheon meat. The added value of food.