Belated birthday wishes!
Handy, lightweight, strong and easy to
recycle: the food can. Patented by Briton
Peter Durand in 1810, it celebrated its
200th birthday on 25th April 2010. Annual
world production today is around 228
billion cans, 80% of which are made of
aluminium.
The mighty lightweight
Corrugated cardboard is a true packaging
miracle. It is very light but protects
products effectively from damage.
Sending goods by parcel post would be
almost inconceivable without this
material. The annual world production of
corrugated cardboard, if laid out in a
single layer, would cover an area equal to
more than a million football pitches.
Drink up, men!
Milk gives tired men new life. If this milk
industry slogan is true, Australian men
must be by far the liveliest in the world.
Milk consumption “down under” is
around 106 litres a year. The second
liveliest men are the German and French,
who each drink 92 litres of the nutritious
white liquid every year.
Number one
One of the most widely produced type of
grain in the world is corn with 817 million
tonnes per year. This is a staple food in
many countries and is processed in the
form of maize flour, maize grain and corn
oil. The largest producers are the United
States with an annual 333 million tonnes,
followed by China and Brazil with 163
million and 51 million tonnes respectively.
Popular all over the world
Tomatoes are among the most popular
‘fruit’. This is reflected in the figure for
world production of 120 million tonnes a
year. But anyone who thinks that most
tomatoes come from Italy, the culinary
motherland, would be wrong. The leader
is China with an annual production of 31
million tonnes. In relation to the size of its
population, however, Italy remains
unmatched with 7 million tonnes.
Sweet delight
Chocolate is good for the palate and the
spirit. The world’s leading chocolate
eaters are the Swiss, who munch their
way through 11.7 kilograms of the stuff
per head per year, closely followed by
the Germans with 11.4 kg. Trailing in the
rear are the Japanese, with an annual
per capita consumption of just 2.2 kg.
Ice-cold in the summertime
A summer without ice cream is like a
winter without snow. The most fervent
believers in this idea are the New
Zealanders and Americans. These two
countries tuck into 28.4 and 26.4 litres
respectively of refreshing ice cream per
year and head of population.
Full of juice
Even though they were not the winners of
the 2010 World Cup, the Germans are
nonetheless world champions when it
comes to drinking fruit juice. Average
annual consumption is 40 litres, ahead of
the USA with 33 litres and Great Britain
with 23 litres. In fourth and fifth places
are France and Italy with 22 and 15 litres
respectively.
trends in automation
Compass
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