In England, Peter Durand, a merchant, patented a method for preserving food in tin-plated iron canisters, a crucial improvement over Appert's glass bottles. Durand's tin cans were more durable and easier to transport than glass, making them ideal for provisioning the British Royal Navy and for export. This invention paved the way for the mass production of canned food, a cornerstone of the global food industry, and was a direct response to the need for reliable, long-lasting food supplies for military campaigns and long sea voyages.

The tin can, as a symbol of industrial modernity, appears in the poetry and literature of the 19th century as a marker of progress, but also of a certain kind of alienation from the natural world. The canned food, processed and sealed, represented a new relationship between people and their food, one that was mediated by industry. This theme is explored in the works of the Victorian poets and novelists who grappled with the effects of industrialization, and it remains a concern for contemporary poets writing about the environment and the global food system.