Who came up with the idea of canned food? In 1809 Napoleon Bonaparte held a contest, with a prize of 12,000 francs for the person who could come up with the most innovative method of preserving food. The winner was Nicolas François Appert, who submitted a method of boiling and sealing food in glass bottles. This program examines how that method led to the British invention of canning, which has changed how we eat. Viewers also learn how canned food could cause the harshest diseases and how Louis Pasteur discovered why with his germ theory. And now, the future brings canned food that is "zapped" through a process called raddapertization.