Meat+Poultry - November 2021 - 17

received a patent for inventing the tin can.
" The Industrial Revolution is really where
modern packaging began, " Aguero said. " 1795
to 1850 was the very beginning of modern
packaging. Then from 1850 to 1900, the first
packaging machines started to enter the
market. Between 1900 and 1950, packaging
machinery became a powerful industry. "
Did what was going on in society effect the
development of different types of packaging
or did new packaging help to change the
culture? Arguments can be made for
both. " Packaging and society have a
very symbiotic relationship, " Meyer
said. " Changes in society have helped
to drive packaging and then packaging
also makes changes in society. "
Seckman explained further, " Back
in the early 1900s, preparing food for the
nightly family dinner was labor intensive
and normally took hours to prepare. There
were very few processed foods to provide
ready-to-cook options. Then, times changed.
In the early 1920s, processed foods were
beginning to be introduced into stores. World
War I brought a new innovation - canned foods
- which were created for our troops. After the
war, gas stoves, newer kitchen appliances and
refrigeration allowed families to purchase,
store and prepare food more easily. And, in the
1930s, more ready-to-eat foods hit the market.
" With each passing decade, the food
industry has evolved and the manufacturers
of food processing and packaging equipment
have continued to work with processors on a
consistent basis in order to meet, address and
further improve upon the technology needs of
the industry. "
The perfect patty
Sometimes it's the little things that make a big impact on
history. When it comes to the origin of the hamburger,
there are some disputes as to where and when the popular
Hamburger Steak was first put between two
pieces of bread and turned into the
popular hand-held dish so many people
enjoy today - most historians say it
was between 1885 and 1904.
Some say it happened at
the Erie County Fair in 1885,
others say a Texas cook named
Fletcher Davis was the first to serve
hamburger steak between two
pieces of Texas toast. And, then
there's Billy Ingram, founder of White
Castle who launched his business in
1921 selling small, square hamburger
" sliders " by the sack full.
When it comes to the mass production of hamburger
patties, another name is found in the history books - Harry
H. Holly.
Holly had been working as a structural iron worker
when the Depression hit in the late 20s. After losing his job
and struggling to find another, he and his wife opened a
hamburger shop under the back stairs of his grandmother's
home in Calumet City, Ill. Despite the challenging times, his
business grew.
However, he soon realized that molding the burgers
by hand took too much time and didn't allow for any
consistency in the size and shape of the patties he was
making. In 1937, Holly built a wooden squeeze press using
the rim of a dinner plate as a form and molded the patties
by pulling a lever. After tweaking his prototype a few times,
he patented the machine.
THE 'KLEENEX' OF PACKAGING
" The world interacts with packaging, and
the world, in some ways drives packaging, "
Aguero said. " There's always somebody in
the packaging industry who is going to try to
invent a better way to do something. "
Enter, Cryovac.
In 1941, the Cryovac brand was born,
and later that brand would be synonymous
with meat packaging. The trademark was
filed by the Dewey and Almy Company,
which later became the W.R. Grace Co. In
1998, the Cryovac brand and technology was
purchased by Sealed Air. Many meat plants
He then sold his hamburger business and started building
steel versions of his patty forming machine and Hollymatic
Corp. was born. The company celebrated its 80th
anniversary in 2017.
Today, Hollymatic and its sister companies Rollstock,
NuTEC Manufacturing, Former and Patty Paper, create
machines for every part of the meat processing line.
" All of those processes of processing the product are
what we've built on from that initial springboard of a patty
machine from Harry Holly - up and down the processing
line, " said Sam Pantano, vice president of national accounts
for Hollymatic. " We take it from cut it, grind it, form to
process it and package it - we do it all. "
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