[2] Tetra Pak was founded by Ruben Rausing and built on Erik Wallenberg's innovation, a tetrahedron-shaped plastic-coated paper carton, from which the company name was derived.

[11] Rausing's wife Elisabeth reportedly came up with the idea of continuously sealing the packages through the milk while filling the tube in the manner of stuffing sausages.

In May of that year, the new packaging system was presented to the press, and in 1952, the first filling machine producing 100 ml cream tetrahedrons was delivered to Lundaortens Mejeriförening, a local dairy.

[14] Rausing strove to improve the Tetra Classic system, beset with many technical problems during the 1950s, and spent enormous amounts on development.

The different projects – the tetrahedron, the aseptic packaging technology, Tetra Brik – all demanded large resources and the company had financial troubles well into the 1960s.

[13] The late-1960s and 1970s saw a global expansion of the company, mainly due to the new Tetra Brik Aseptic package, launched in 1969, which opened up new markets in the developing world and sparked an explosion in sales.

[7] In 1981, Tetra Pak relocated its corporate headquarters to Lausanne, Switzerland, for tax reasons, but retained all research in Lund, Sweden.

[18] The part of Alfa Laval that was not directly linked to Tetra Pak's activities – heat exchangers and separation equipment among others – was sold in 2000 to Swedish finance group Industri Kapital.

The merger was prohibited by the European Commission on the grounds that both Tetra Pak and Sidel were market leaders in their fields and operated in related business areas.

[22] In 2014, Tetra Pak acquired Miteco, a provider of production solutions for soft drinks, fruit juices and liquid food, which employs 70 people across sites in Switzerland, Italy, the UK and South America.

[27] The company opened a €120 million aseptic packaging plant in Vietnam in 2019 to supply countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Australia, and New Zealand.

[29] The Norwegian company Elopak/Pure-Pak produces similar style carton packages and has historically been Tetra Pak's principal competitor.

When filled with ultra-heat treated (UHT) foodstuffs (liquids like milk and juice or processed food like vegetables and preserved fruits), the aseptic packages can be preserved without being chilled for up to one year, with the result that distribution and storage costs, as well as environmental impact, is greatly reduced and product shelf life expanded.

[32] In November 2011, the Tetra Brik carton package was represented at the exhibition Hidden Heroes – The Genius of Everyday Things at the London Science Museum/Vitra Design Museum, celebrating "the miniature marvels we couldn’t live without".

[37][38][39] The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences called the Tetra Pak packaging system one of Sweden's most successful inventions of all time.

[7][40] While the original idea was to provide hygienic pre-packaging for liquid foodstuffs, Tetra Pak is now providing a range of different packaging and processing products and services due to its acquisition of Alfa Laval in 1991, consequently supplying complete systems of processing, packaging, and distribution within fields as various as ice cream, cheese, fruit and vegetables and pet food.

[2] In addition to its various packaging products, Tetra Pak thus provides integrated processing and distribution lines for different kinds of food manufacturing, including packaging machines and carton paper, equally providing distribution equipment like conveyors, tray packers, film wrappers, crates, straws, and roll containers.

[41] As of 2017, Tetra Pak was a Carbon Disclosure Project "A-lister" and 100% of its paperboard that year was either FSC-certified or came from other controlled sources that exclude "five environmentally and socially unacceptable categories as defined by the FSC.

Recycled Tetra Paks may be used in producing polythene based products and construction material, third largest contributor to carbon footprint.

[63] In 2018, Tetra Pak signed an agreement with the environmental services company Veolia "to recycle all the components of used beverage cartons collected within the EU by 2025.

[65] In attempts to innovate and to improve the recyclability rate of their Aseptic cartons, one of the main factor is the replacement of the aluminum layer used which can constitute up to 5% of the package material.

[66] In Which the company has already done successful commercial consumer testing in 2022 of an alternative from the aluminum layer with a aper-based barrier that increases its recyclability up to 90% and in effect reduces its carbon footprint by one third (33%).

[74] The Tetra Laval Group donates 10 million Euro to various voluntary organisations supporting health care systems.

In January 2004, Italian dairy giant Parmalat was caught in a multibillion-euro accounting scandal, culminating in the arrest of the owner Calisto Tanzi.

[85] Erik Wallenberg did not receive any formal recognition until 1991 when he was awarded the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Great Gold Medal for outstanding achievement for the invention.