Looking back: Food technology milestones

June 2, 2022 – Right now, scientists are developing new tools to improve the availability, safety, nutrition, and environmental impact of foods that will be eaten 50 years from now. They are mining veins dating back to prehistoric times when the first hunter-gatherers began farming. Since the Industrial Revolution, discoveries have become rapid and heavy.

1784: Flour has become easier. In Philadelphia, Oliver Evans invented the first fully automated milling machine powered by water. Around the same time, across the Atlantic, Scottish inventor Andrew Meikle devised the first mechanical threshing machine for harvesting wheat.

1810: Efficient and effective food preservation. The “tin canister” was invented in England. In 1812, the first commercial canning factory in the United States opened. Canned food supplied to the military in 19^th The massive war of the century, and then expanded to the general public.

1863: A major advance in food safety. Louis Pasteur invented a sterilization process named after him.

1924: Clarence Birdseye invented what you know. Frozen vegetables, that’s what it is.

1927: This refrigerator could be easily cooled at home. Electric freezing was invented 10 years ago and there were several home models, but it took some time before mass-produced refrigerators became widespread. When that happened, refrigeration revolutionized the way we buy, store and cook food.

1928: Better … The first mechanically sliced ​​bread was sold by the Chiriko Sea Baking Company in Missouri.But it didn’t thing The first nationally distributed sliced ​​bread until Wonder hit the market in 1930.

1950: Green Revolution. The end of World War II ushered in a new era of agriculture, where technological innovation led to a major leap in production. The factory that produced ammonia for explosives was converted to produce nitrogen for fertilizer. Between 1950 and 1998, the use of these fertilizers increased more than 10-fold worldwide. In the United States, pesticide use increased as well during that period. And while mules and horses outnumbered farm tractors by almost 5: 1 in 1945, by 1960 more tractors were working than animals. Thanks to these advances, the United States today has one-third of its pre-WWII farms, but it produces three times as much food.

1967: Enter the microwave. Amana has announced the Lada Range, the first microwave oven that is small and affordable enough for home use. This is another way to make home cooking easier and has created a whole new market for frozen dinners. (Microwave popcorn wasn’t on the market until 1981.)

1992: Fast-growing practice: Precision agriculture. This relatively new agricultural practice uses state-of-the-art technology to make agricultural decisions that are specific to each farm and even to each discipline. By focusing on the 5 Rs ―――― Use less land, water, and fertilizers, reduce herbicides and pesticides, and produce higher yields, with the right sources, the right speeds, the right places, the right times, and the right ways.

1994: GMO is on the shelves. Tomatoes have entered the market as the first agricultural product called genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Designed to remain firm after harvest, it can ripen longer on vines without being damaged in transit. Within the next few years, GMO’s summer squash, soybeans, corn, papaya, potatoes and rapeseed will follow.

1999: Agriculture upwards for sustainability. Professor Dickson Despommier of Columbia University conceptualized vertical farming. This practice of growing crops indoors in vertically stacked climate-controlled layers is expected to reach nearly $ 10 billion in sales by 2025.

2002: Future protein? Meat grown in the first laboratory is well grown from goldfish. It was a big technological advance, but it wasn’t sold for public consumption – do you want to eat goldfish?

2009: Unintended consequences of innovation. As food manufacturers continued to improve their methods, the products they created received the new term “super-processed food.” They are associated with the obesity epidemic and the growth of type 2 diabetes, among other public health issues. By 2018, these foods provided 57% of the calories Americans ate daily.

2019: A vegan burger that bleeds. After five years of experimentation, Impossible Foods unveiled Impossible Burger, a plant-based patty that surprisingly mimics the taste, texture and appearance of ground beef. Yes, it is super processed.

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