Methods of food preservation

Among the oldest methods of preservation are drying, refrigeration, and

fermentation. Modern methods include canning, pasteurization,
freezing, irradiation, and the addition of chemicals. Advances in
packaging materials have played an important role in modern food
preservation.

Preservation
As long as humans have been eating food, they have also been preserving it. Ancient
methods such as pickling, brining, salting and drying are still used today alongside
more modern methods.

Here are a selection of methods that can be used to prolong the life of food:

Chilling/Freezing
Both raw and cooked food can be chilled or frozen.

Reducing the temperature to 5°C or below can stop or significantly slow the growth
of pathogenic bacteria. Cooked food should be chilled as quickly as possible to avoid
bacterial growth in the ‘Danger Zone’ of 5°C - 63°C.

The ideal chilling time is 5°C within 90 minutes. This can be easily achieved through
the use of a blast chiller. Freezing should target -18°C or lower.

Chemicals
Salt, brine (highly salted liquid), alcohol, vinegar and sugar can all be used to prolong
the useful life of a food. Manufactured preservatives, such as sulphur dioxide or
sodium benzoate, are also used in small and highly controlled quantities to inhibit
the growth of harmful bacteria in foods.

The use (quantity and application) of chemical preservatives is controlled by law.

Canning
The canning method is a very effective way to prolong the shelf life of food almost
indefinitely.

The process involves placing the food inside a metal can, which is then hermetically
sealed before being heat treated to a very high temperature (typically 121°C).

This process sterilises the can and its contents, destroying all pathogenic and
spoilage organisms, including those that do not require oxygen.

Because a can’s contents are sterile it can be stored at an ambient temperature.

Though cans should be regularly checked for signs of damage, such as leaks, dents,
rust or ‘blows’ (where microorganism activity has created gas inside the can, causing
it to bloat).

Pasteurisation
Pasteurisation is a heat treatment developed by French scientist Louis Pasteur in the
nineteenth century.

It is a process that kills bacteria in liquids by heating it to a preset temperature for a

specific amount of time (typically 72°C for 15 seconds). Pasteurisation kills
pathogenic bacteria, but not spores.

Sterilisation
Sterilisation is a more rigorous treatment than pasteurisation. Foods are heated to a
greater temperature, killing bacteria AND spores. UHT (Ultra Heat Treating) is a
common form of sterilisation.

Drying
Drying - as the name suggests - removes moisture from food. As moisture is one of
the requirements of microbacterial activity, thorough drying will stop the growth of
pathogenic bacteria. This means that dried foods can be kept for a long period of
time, if stored correctly. Dried goods need to be kept dry. Once moisture is
reintroduced microbacterial activity could re-activate, and the food may require
refrigerated storage.

Air Removal
As oxygen is an essential factor in much microbacterial activity, the removal of
oxygen can stop pathogenic growth.

This could be done through vacuum-packing, which removes all traces of air from a
product, leaving it in an air-free vacuum.

Gas replacement and gas flushing are also commonly used as preservative methods.
Gas replacement removes the air from a packaged food and replaces it with another
gas, such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide. These gases starve the pathogens of oxygen,
stopping growth. Gas flushing is a mixture of vacuum-packing and gas replacement:
food is first flushed with a gas to remove all oxygen, then vacuum-packed.

Sooraj M
Food Safety & Hygiene