Since ancient times, meat has become an important food in human diet. In order to obtain meat, people sharpened sticks and stones, and invented swords and bows. Meat comes from the edible meat, viscera, and other tissues of various animals. With fire, the light and heat of civilization is used by humans, and human intelligence has reached an important step due to cooked food. Meat is an important part of hot, cooked food. Boiled, fire-roasted, and processed animal meat in different ways become meat foods of different tastes.

The most important nutritional value of meat food is to provide us with the protein needed for survival and growth. At the same time, it can also supply the fat needed by the body and some necessary minerals and vitamins. However, because meat contains various nutrients that can supply almost all living things, including humans, and contains a lot of water, it is very easy to deteriorate, especially in hot summer. As long as there is enough air, if the meat is not properly treated or preserved, bacteria will multiply on the surface, and the meat will become sticky, moldy and inedible. Even in areas with relatively thin air, if it is not properly protected or treated, the meat will eat It will also quickly become sour and corrupt.

Preserving meat in a suitable way has become a very important issue, and food packaging has therefore emerged.

Packaging for easy storage and exchange

With the development of the times, whether the meat is preserved well or not has become a key factor in the economy of meat food production and processing. Packaging is of great significance to the preservation of meat food.

Different preservation methods can provide different preservation quality and shelf life. Although freezing is the most important method of preserving fresh meat in recent decades, before the invention of mechanical freezing methods such as refrigerators, freezers, and cold storage, freezing meat is an unimaginable method except in the cold winter.

The history of human use of packaging can even be traced back to ancient times. As early as the late primitive society about 10,000 years ago, with the improvement of production technology in the tribe, the unique human ability of production developed rapidly, and people therefore had surplus items that could be used for storage or exchange.

In order to store and exchange needs, the most primitive packaging method appeared. Initially, people of primitive tribes cut strong rattans to tie up the hunted animals, or used plant leaves, large shells or animal skins to wrap various items including food, and this is the primitive The embryonic stage of packaging development.

Since then, with the improvement of human labor skills, people slowly began to use plant fibers to make the most primitive baskets and baskets. Today, stones and clay are burned with fire to make clay pots, bowls and pots, etc. , Used to contain and preserve food, beverages and other items. These inventions have made the purpose of packaging—convenient transportation, storage and custody convenient—preliminarily perfected. It can be said that this is the ancient packaging technology. Although primitive, it is a great improvement.

Container important packaging material

Around 5000 BC, the Bronze Age began.

In the Xia Dynasty more than 4,000 years ago, the Chinese were able to smelt copper ware, but in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, bronze smelting technology has been further developed, and the ware can be large and beautiful. The wheel of history has turned to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Cast iron and steelmaking technology, paint making and painting technology have also been mastered, and various iron containers and painted wooden containers have appeared in large numbers and gradually become popular.

Looking at the world, in ancient Egypt, around 3000 BC, people on that land began to blow glass containers. Therefore, humans have used ceramics, glass, wood, and metal to process various packaging containers for thousands of years. Many of these technologies, such as glass containers and ceramic containers, have been continuously improved and developed and have been used to this day.

Packaging from tradition to modern

In 105 AD, China was in the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Cai Lun invented papermaking.

In 610 AD, Chinese papermaking was introduced to Japan via Goryeo, and then to Zhengzhou in the 13th century. Germany also built the world's first large-scale paper mill.

In the middle of the 11th century, Bi Sheng in the Northern Song Dynasty invented movable type printing. In the 15th century, letterpress printing began to appear in Europe, and packaging printing and packaging decoration industries began to develop from this.

In the 16th century, the ceramic industry in Europe also began to develop, and the technology was then brought to the Americas. Glass factories were built in the United States and began to produce various glass containers. At this point, the packaging industry with ceramics, glass, wood, metal, etc. as the main materials has begun to develop rapidly, and modern traditional packaging has begun to transition to modern packaging.

Casing has been used for more than two thousand years

In the process of human civilization that lasted for tens of thousands of years, pickling was the most important way to preserve meat, and in our country, the packaging of meat food has a long history. For example, natural casings, as a safe, edible, nutritious and easy-to-digest pure natural food packaging, appeared in China as early as 589 BC, and have been used for more than 2,600 years.

Casing is a kind of livestock product made by scraping the large and small intestines of livestock. There are pig casings, sheep casings, cattle casings, etc. After processing, the casings are tough and translucent. After processing, the meat can be poured in. It can be stored for a long time after being air-dried.