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Introduction, Historical development of food preservation

Introduction
We must eat food daily but it is produced seasonally. Therefore, we must find ways to preserve it
over a long period of time. It is almost impossible to provide foods to the growing population
without manipulation in terms of food preservation and processing. The table below shows the
population in 2016 and its projected figure by 2050. By 2053 the world’s population will be
about 10 billion.

Population in 2016 AD Population by 2050 AD Increment

7.4 billion सात अरब चालिस करोड 9.9 billion नौ अरब ९० करोड 33%
China-1378 million India-1708 million
India-1329 “ “ China-1344 “ “
USA- 324 “ “ USA- 398 “ “
Indonesia-259 “ “ Nigeria- 398 “ “
Brazil-206 “ “ Indonesia-360 “ “
Pakistan-203 “ “ Pakistan-344 “ “
Nigeria- 187 “ “ Brazil -266 “ “
Nepal- 27 m “ “
Providing food for humans is the basic goal of food scientists and nutritionists. Food science and
technology deal with the total sequence of operations from the selection of raw materials through
processing, preservation and distribution. Therefore, we must understand both processing,
storage of foods as well as know about agricultural production and consumer’s desires. Food
preservation helps to feed the growing population in the world.
Post Harvest Technology: In agriculture, post harvest handling is the stage of crop production
immediately following harvest, including cooling, cleaning, sorting and packing. It includes all
operations or techniques after its harvest.
Plant and animal “crops” begin to deteriorate shortly after harvest, gathering or slaughter. Some
deterioration is accompanied by the production of poisonous agents, while other cause loses in
the essential nutritive values of foods. Post harvest operations are targated to

 Lengthen shelf life (Preservation)

 Reduce losses from harvest to consumption (H to C)
 Develop new products (Product development and diversification)
Food preservation is the process of treating and handling food in such a way as to stop or
greatly slow down spoilage to prevent food borne illness while maintaining nutritional value,
texture and flavor. It helps to maintain foods with a desired properties or nature for as long as
possible. The major causes of food deterioration are
1. Physical/mechanical damage during harvesting and handling.
2. Chemicals: Browning and several chemical changes taking place during the processing
and storage of foods.
3. Biological: Microorganisms, insects and mites, rodents

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Preservation Methods
1. Inhibition: low temperature storage, reducing water activity aw, decrease of oxygen and
increase of CO2, acidification, fermentation, adding preservatives, freezing, surface
coating.
2. Inactivation (of MOs, enzyme): Pasteurization, sterilization, radiation, electrifying,
pressure treatment, blanching, cooking and frying.
3. Avoid Recontamination: Packaging, hygienic processing, hygienic storage, aseptic
processing and canning.
Food processing
Foods are processed after harvest. Food processing means the ways that are used to change
raw ingredients into food product so that they can be eaten by humans. During food processing
man, material, machine, energy and technologies are applied to produce attractive
and marketable food products. In other words, it is the process of conversion of raw materials
into desired product by using 3 Ms and energy. The purposes of food processing are,
1. To reduce the geographical and climatic variation for food distribution.
2. To aid transportation and handling facilities.
3. For new product development and product diversification.
4. For value addition.
5. For utilization of local resources.
Benefits of food processing are
1. Economic benefit.
2. Food as a trade/food business
3. Food preservation / food security
4. Utilization of underutilized and low grade food crops, eg, broken rice:- extruded rice;
small irregular sized orange:- juice and marmalade.
5. Nutritional benefit- fortification and enrichment.
6. Opportunity of employment.
The method and time of processing depends upon the type of raw material and its desired
products. It also depends on culture and traditions, the culture of food processing passes from
one generation to another.

Types of foods
All food materials generally originate from 2 major sources; plant and animals. Based on the
perishability, they are classified as;
1. Perishable: They spoil quickly, within 1-2 days. They have generally high water
contents eg; meat, fish, poultry, milk, fruits and vegetables.
2. Semi-perishable: They are having relatively less water content than perishable foods.
They also have natural stable system which help to preserve relatively longer time eg;
carrot, apple, egg, acidic fruits and vegetables.
3. Non-perishable (stable): They have less water content, high salt and /or sugar content
eg; properly dried cereals, legumes and pulses.

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History of Food preservation
Introduction: Food preservation practices have grown along with the human civilization. In the
past, the formation of nation was also dependent on ability to feed their people. Since antiquity,
humans have sought ways to preserve food for use during times of food scarcity. They used
different techniques eg; cooking, drying, fermentation, depending on the period of preservation
they needed.
The surprising fact about food preservation is that it permeated every culture at nearly every
moment in time. To survive ancient man had to harness (बााँलिनु fasten) nature. In frozen climates he
froze seal meat on the ice. In tropical climates he dried foods in the sun. Food by its nature
begins to spoil the moment it is harvested. Food preservation enabled ancient man to make roots
and live in one place and form a community. He no longer had to consume the kill or harvest
immediately, but could preserve some for later use. Each culture preserved their local food
sources using the same basic methods of food preservation.
Food supplies for armies have often determined victory जित or defeat हार . Napoleon; the
conqueror (सैलनक बिमा जित हालसि गने लबिेता) of Europe knew that food was such an absolute
necessity for his armies that he offered a prize to anyone who could find a way to preserve food.
Nicholas Appert in 1809 won the completion and gave the world the process of heat sterilization
of food by heating in sealed containers. Appert did not know precisely the scientific basis of his
invention, but it was successful. His basic process has been improved through the years.
Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was French military and political leader of
French Revolution (1789-1799 AD). Death: at the age of 51 due to stomach cancer. He crowned
himself as Emperor (Monarch) in 1804. Became emperor from 1804-1814 (+100 days in 1815).
French Revolution (1789-1799 AD) took place for 5 May 1789- 9 Nov, 1799 (10 years, 6 months
and 4 days). Location: kingdom of France. Outcomes of French Revolution: Abolition of
French Monarchy, Establishment of secular and democratic republic that became increasingly
authoritarian (dictatorial) and militaristic, Radical social change based on liberalism and
enlightment principles, Rise of Neapolitan Bonaparte and Armed conflicts with other European
countries.
Nicholas Appert was French inventor of airtight food preservation. He is also known as father of
canning. Birth: Nov 17, 1749, Death: June 1, 1841. He wrote a book “The art of processing all
kinds of animal and vegetable substances”
The term Appertization has been derived from the name of Nicholas Appert who invented the
first process for using heat to sterilize food.
The Neolithic period (New Stone Age) marks a change from a food gathering and hunting
economy to one of food production. This change started gradually after about 9000 BC and was
more or less complete by 1000 BC. Food processing and preservation developed along the
human civilization through copper, bronze and iron ages.
Food by its nature brings to spoil the moment it is harvested or killed. They used to harvest
food immediately and consume. They used to preserve it for later use also. They used to apply
basic methods of food preservation. The history of food preservation can be summarized in the
chronological order as below.

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1. Drying: In ancient times the sun and wind would have naturally dried foods. Evidence
shows that Middle East and oriental cultures actively dried foods as early as 12,000 B.C.
in the hot sun. Later cultures left more evidence and each would have methods and
materials to reflect their food supplies—fish, wild game, domestic animals, etc.
Vegetables and fruits were also dried from the earliest times. The Romans were
particularly fond of any dried fruit they could make. In the Middle Ages (5th-15th
century) purposely built “still houses” were created to dry fruits, vegetables and herbs in
areas that did not have enough strong sunlight for drying. A fire was used to create the
heat needed to dry foods and in some cases smoking them as well.
2. Freezing: Freezing was an obvious preservation method to the appropriate climates. Any
geographic area that had freezing temperatures for even part of a year made use of the
temperature to preserve foods. Less than freezing temperatures were used to prolong
storage times. Cellars, caves and cool streams were put to good use for that purpose. In
America estates had icehouses built to store ice and food on ice. Soon the “icehouse”
became an “icebox”. In the 1800’s mechanical refrigeration was invented and was
quickly put to use. Also, in the late 1800’s Clarence Birdseye discovered that quick
freezing at very low temperatures made for better tasting meats and vegetables. After
some time he perfected his “quick freeze” process and revolutionized this method of food
preservation.
3. Fermenting: Fermentation was not invented, but rather discovered. No doubt that the
first beer was discovered when a few grains of barley were left in the rain. Opportunistic
microorganisms fermented the starch-derived sugars into alcohols. So too can be said
about fruits fermented into wine, cabbage into Kim chi or sauerkraut, and so on. The skill
of ancient peoples to observe, harness, and encourage these fermentations are admirable.
Some anthropologists believe that mankind settled down from nomadic wanderers into
farmers to grow barley to make beer in roughly 10,000 BC. Beer was nutritious and the
alcohol was divine. It was treated as a gift from the gods. Fermentation was a valuable
food preservation method. It not only could preserve foods, but it also created more
nutritious foods and was used to create more palatable foods from less than desirable
ingredients. Microorganisms responsible for fermentations can produce vitamins as they
ferment. This produces a more nutritious end product from the ingredients.
4. Pickling: Pickling is preserving foods in vinegar (or other acid). Vinegar is produced
from starches or sugars fermented first to alcohol and then the alcohol is oxidized by
certain bacteria to acetic acid. Wines, beers and ciders are all routinely transformed into
vinegars. Pickling may have originated when food was placed in wine or beer to preserve
it, since both have a low pH. Perhaps the wine or beer went sour and the taste of the food
in it was appealing. Containers had to be made of stoneware or glass, since the vinegar
would dissolve the metal from pots. Never ones to waste anything our ancestors found
uses for everything. The left over pickling brine found many uses. The Romans made a
concentrated fish pickle sauce called “garum”. It was powerful stuff packing a lot of fish
taste in a few drops. There was a spectacular increase in food preservation in the
sixteenth century owing to the arrival in Europe of new foods. Ketchup was an oriental
fish brine that traveled the spice route to Europe and eventually to America where
someone finally added sugar to it. Spices were added to these pickling sauces to make
clever recipes. Soon chutneys, relishes, piccalillis, mustards, and ketchups were
commonplace. Worcester sauce was an accident from a forgotten barrel of special relish.
It aged for many years in the basement of the Lea and Perrins Chemist shop.

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 5. Curing/Salting: The earliest curing was actually dehydration. Early cultures used salt to
help desiccate foods. Salting was common and even culinary by choosing raw salts from
different sources (rock salt, sea salt, spiced salt, etc.). In the 1800’s it was discovered that
certain sources of salt gave meat a red color instead of the usual unappetizing grey.
Consumers overwhelmingly preferred the red colored meat. In this mixture of salts were
nitrites (saltpeter). As the microbiology of Clostridium botulinum was elucidated (to
explain or make sth. clear) in the 1920’s it was realized that nitrites inhibited this
organism.
6. Jam and Jelly/sugar as preservative: Preservation with the use of honey or sugar was
well known to the earliest cultures. Fruits kept in honey were commonplace. In ancient
Greece quince was mixed with honey, dried somewhat and packed tightly into jars. The
Romans improved on the method by cooking the quince and honey producing a solid
texture. The same fervor of trading with India and the Orient that brought pickled foods
to Europe brought sugar cane. In northern climates that do not have enough sunlight to
successfully dry fruits housewives learned to make preserves—heating the fruit with
sugar.
7. Canning: Canning is the process in which foods are placed in jars or cans and heated to a
temperature that destroys microorganisms and inactivates enzymes. This heating and later
cooling forms a vacuum seal. The vacuum seal prevents other microorganisms from re-
contaminating the food within the jar or can. Canning is the newest of the food
preservations methods being pioneered in the 1790s when Nicolas Appert, discovered
that the application of heat to food in sealed glass bottles preserved the food from
deterioration. He theorized “if it works for wine, why not foods?” In about 1806 Appert's
principles were successfully trialed by the French Navy on a wide range of foods
including meat, vegetables, fruit and even milk. Based on Appert's methods Englishman,
Peter Durand, used tin cans in 1810. Appert had found a new and successful method to
preserve foods, but he did not fully understand it. It was thought that the exclusion of
air was responsible for the preservations. It was not until 1864 when Louis Pasteur
discovered the relationship between microorganisms and food spoilage/illness did it
become clearer. Just prior to Pasteur’s discovery Raymond Chevalier-Appert patented the
pressure retort (canner) in 1851 to can at temperatures higher than 212ºF. However, not
until the 1920’s was the significance of this method known in relation to Clostridium
botulinum.

Conclusion

Some historians believe that food preservation was not only for sustenance, but also cultural.
They point to numerous special occasion preserved foods that have religious or celebratory
meanings. In America more and more people live in cities and procure foods commercially. They
have been removed from a rural self-sufficient way of life. Yet, for many, a garden is still a
welcome site. And, annually there exists a bounty crop of vegetables and fruits. It is this cultural
nature of preserved foods that survives today. Interests have shifted from preserve “because we
have to”, to “preserve because we like to.”
Sequence of age:
Stone Copper Copper + tin = Bronze Iron Iron +carbon Steel
Quince: A hard acidic pear-shaped fruit used in preserves or as flavouring.