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Tetra Pak is a multinational food processing and packaging company of Swedish origin. It was founded in 1951 in Lund, Sweden, by Ruben Rausing. It was Erik Wallenberg who invented the tetrahedral package, today known as Tetra Classic. The company is part of the Tetra Laval group which also includes Sidel – who specialise in PET bottles – and DeLaval, a producer of dairy farming machinery and food processing equipment.
Ruben Rausing’s sons Hans and Gad Rausing ran Tetra Pak from 1954 until 1985, taking the company from a seven-person concern to one of Sweden’s largest corporations. At his death in 1983, Ruben Rausing was Sweden’s richest person.
Tetra Pak’s innovation is in the area of aseptic processing liquid food packaging which, when combined with ultra-high-temperature processing (UHT), allows liquid food to be packaged and stored under room temperature conditions for up to a year. This allows for perishable goods to be saved and distributed over greater distances without the need for a cool chain.
Tetra Pak’s first product was a paper carton used for storing and transporting milk. The first product was a package in the shape of a triangular pyramid (or tetrahedron), called the Tetra Classic. Ruben Rausing and his team had been working on the Tetra Classic design since 1944, and by 1952 had perfected techniques for making his cartons fully airtight, using a system of plastic coated paperboard.[1] These initial cartons were tetrahedral, leading to the company’s name, derived from “four” in the Greek language. The first Tetra Classic package was launched in 1952,[2] and in 1963 the company introduced Tetra Brik, a rectangular cuboid carton. Later, Tetra Pak launched other packaging formats such as Tetra Wedge (wedge-shaped), Tetra Prisma (round octagonal), and Tetra Fino (pouch-shaped). Tetra Pak also produced other non aseptic packaging systems – including Tetra Rex (gable-top), Tetra Top (paper and plastic moulded in one), Tetra Brik (foldable paper/aluminum container), and the now-discontinued Tetra King. Recent innovations have seen the introduction of laminated paper boxes for vegetables as an alternative to tinned goods. It is claimed that this new product, Tetra Recart, allows for more subtle processing[3] of vegetables than canning permits.