We are all well informed about how essential food preservation is for survival. We have all grown up listening to, A healthy diet for a healthy life. Although as necessary as food consumption is, food wastage is a big challenge for developing and developed countries.
With changing times and increasing demand for packaged processed food, anytime snacking habits and seasonal fruits and vegetables throughout the year bring us to the subject of food preservation.
What is food preservation?
A process to handle the food in terms of its treatment and packaging, to slow down or completely stop the spoilage of food, loss of its nutritional value, taste, and edibility of food keeping it safe, hygienic and healthy enough for consumption.
Food spoilage can be understood as any change in the food that makes it unfit for human consumption. It can happen due to contamination by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi, degradation by endogenous enzymes, and oxidation by air to cause colour change or spoilage due to undesirable temperatures. The prime objective of food preservation is to prevent food spoilage until its consumption.
With the advancement of technology, the Food processing and preservation industries have come up with better ways to preserve food, such as canning, refrigeration, pasteurisation, fermentation and dehydration.
Understanding the Importance of food preservation
Preserving food can prove helpful in the following ways:
● Increased shelf life of food: Food spoilage is a widespread problem. Using techniques such as low-temperature storage and removal of oxygen to help preserve oxidation help extend food shelf life. Food preservation helps the storage and usage of food for a longer duration and helps us understand the importance of food preservation.
● Reduced hazard of micrological pathogens: Using a cleaner, safer, and required food preservation method helps prevent food from being spoiled by enzymes and microbiological pathogens. Food preservation helps keep food nutrients intact and safe for consumption.
● Decreased spoilage of food: Food preservation cuts down on food wastage. Excess food can be processed, packed and preserved to last longer, retaining colour, texture, flavour and nutritional value. A safe, preserving environment prevents contamination and decreases spoilage of food.
● Year-round availability of seasonal food: Food preservation helps transport perishable food such as fruits and vegetables to far-off places. It gives the food more variety and makes it easier to have year-long availability of seasonal food. Food preservation helps us with better choices and a more varied diet.
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