Ten scientific breakthroughs we literally couldn't live without

HowStuffWorks recently published an article on key inventions that humans depend on in order to thrive and survive. They published their list of top ten, and we could not agree more. These top ten inventions, from least important to most important, are:

10th place - Wheels
9th place - Blades
8th place - Clothing
7th place - Shelter
6th place - Sewage disposal
5th place - Water purification
4th place - Fire
3rd place - Agricultural crops
2nd place - Antibiotics
1st place - Food preservation

So there, food preservation was ranked first by HowStuffWorks in their “ten scientific breakthroughs we literally couldn’t live without”. And when you stop and think about it, you realize that our ability to preserve foodstuffs for long periods without refrigeration is what makes humans so successful. Our chance of survival in natural disasters and epidemics would become slim if we lack a steady supply of fresh foods.

Interestingly, the way food is preserved has not changed much over the last 200 years. Canning, first developed by French inventor Nicolas Appert in 1809, is still the method of choice for preserving meat, vegetables and fruits at room temperature. It is therefore our hope that advanced sous-vide aseptic packaging (ASAP) technology would bring a revolution to the food industry by making food that tastes as good as fresh but lasts as long as canned.

《博聞網》最近發表了一篇有關人類賴以生存的關鍵發明的文章，他們公佈了前十名的名單，而我們完全認同。這十大發明是：

第十名 - 車輪
第九名 - 刀
第八名 - 衣服
第七名 - 房子
第六名 - 污水處理
第五名 - 水淨化
第四名 - 火
第三名 - 農作物
第二名 - 抗生素
第一名 - 食品保存

食品保存之所以能夠在《博聞網》是次選舉中脫穎而出其實不無道理，首先我們人類有賴於室溫保存技術才有今天的成功。一旦缺乏穩定的新鮮食品，我們在自然災害和流行病中生存的機會將變得渺茫。有趣的是在過去200年中，食品保存方式並未發生太大變化。法國發明家尼古拉斯·阿佩特（Nicolas Appert）於1809年首次研發出罐頭食品，至今仍是室溫保存肉類、蔬菜和水果的首選方法。因此我們希望先進低溫真空無菌包裝（ASAP）技術能夠為食品行業帶來一場革命，為人類製作味道如鮮兼儲存期長的一流食品。