Food

preservation
Introduction
Food Preservation, processes involved in
protecting food against microbes and other
spoilage agents to permit its further5
consumption. The preserved food should retain
a palatable appearance, flavor, and texture, as
well as its original nutritional value.

The aim of food preservation is to

minimize the growth of microorganisms during
the storage period, thus promoting longer shelf
life and reduced hazard from eating the
food.like,(Animal products).
  Food Preservation in History

Nicolas appert(1749-1891)
 Principles of preservations
 killing of micro-organisms.
 Inhibition of microbial growth.
 Removing micro-organisms.
 Destroying enzyme.
 Retardation of chemical changes
Conditions for the growth of micro-
organisms
 Methods of the preservation and their side
effects
1.Heat treatment
2.Irradiation
3.Smoking
4.Drying and dehydration
5.Refrigeration
6.Freezing
7.Canning
8.Sugaring and Salting
9.Meat curing
10.Pickling in vinegar
11.Use of food additives
12.Filtration
1.Heat treatment
 Principle
 Food is heated up and cooked.
 Kills the microorganisms and their spores
 alters protein structures
 destroys enzyme activity of microorganisms
Methods of heating
1.Blanching
2.sterilization
3.commercial sterilization
4.Pasteurization
 Levels of pasteurization used to thermally process
milk include:
(1) Low Temperature Long Time (LTLT): 63° C (145°
F) for 30 min
(2) High Temperature Short Time (HTST): 72° C(161°
F) for 15 s (LTLT and HTST are equivalent
thermal processes)
(3) Ultra High Temperature (UHT): 138° C (280 ° F)
(or higher) for 2 s
• Advantage:
 Inactivates autolysis enzymes.
 Destroys microorganisms.
• Disadvantage:
High temperatures can diminish product
appearance,texture, and nutrient quality.
• Examples:
All forms of cooked food, milk sterilized by UHT
(ultra high temperature).
2.Irradiation
 Principle
Exposing food to ionizing radiation is to
destroy enzymes and micro-organisms in food;
kill mould and destroy bacteria in fresh meats.
 Irradiated foods are not radioactive
 Type of radiation used for food preservation is
ionizing radiation.
 Advantage:
 less Nutritional losses
 The chemical reactions associated with food
irradiation do, in fact, produce very small amounts
of new compounds called radiolysis products.

 Disadvantage
If irradiated food becomes contaminated, new
pathogens have little competition and can multiply
more rapidly.
The energy used for irradiated food are:
1.Gamma rays
2.X-rays
3.Electrons

(Radura)
3. Smoking
 Principle
The smoke is obtained by burning special
type of wood under low breeze/wind at about
93oC to 104oC.
 Woods used for smoking are Alder, apple and
cherry, hickory, maple, mesquite, oak, pecan.

Smoking process
 Disadvantage
smoked foods are carcinogenic.

 Examples: Fish (Smoked salmon), ham, and

sausage

Smoked ham Smoked sausage

4. Drying and Dehydration
 Principle
Drying removes the moisture from the food so
that bacteria, yeasts and moulds cannot grow
and spoil the food. It also slows down the action
of enzymes, but does not inactivate them.

Drying methods
Air
Oven
Microwave oven
 Disadvantage
Time and work, including rehydrating of the food before
eating.
Advantage
Drying food loss only a little nutrition in the food.

Preservation process Normal loss of nutrition Processing method

Canning 60-80% high temperatures

Freezing 40-60% water-logging and rupturing of cells

Dehydrating 5-15% moderate heat and moderate air flow

In-home Drying 3-5% low heat and gentle air flow

5. Refrigeration
 Principle
process of lowering the temperature and
maintaining it in a given space for the purpose of
chilling foods ,Chilling slows down microbial
activities and chemical changes resulting in
spoilage.
In chilling, food is kept at 0oC - 4oC.

 Disadvantage:
food cannot be stored for long time.
6. Freezing
 Principle
It converts water of the food to ice, so the
water is unavailable for metabolic reaction of the
microorganisms.
 In freezing, food temperature is reduced to about
-17oC.
(Freezer).
 Chemical changes during
freezing

Enzymes are proteins present in plants and

animal. Even after we harvest plants or slaughter
animals, enzyme reactions can continue and
result in undesirable color, flavor and texture
changes in the food. Freezing slows down, but
does not destroy enzymes. The two methods you
can use are blanching and adding chemical
compounds such as ascorbic acid.
Changes in food texture during
freezing
• Freezing involves the change of water contained
in the food from a liquid to a solid (ice). When
water freezes it expands, and the ice crystals
formed cause cell walls of food to rupture. As a
result, the texture of the product will be much
softer when it thaws.
• Disadvantage
Freezing would cause low temperature injury.

•Examples:
Frozen meat, peas, vegetables, ice-cream
7. Canning

 Principle
Preserving food by heating and sealing
in airtight containers
• Advantage

The steel can recycle process

 • Disadvantage
Food are not thoroughly heated or the
containers are not properly canned may
lead to growth of clostridium botulinum or
spoilage of canned food.
 Examples:
All kinds of tinned foods, such as soup,
meat, beans

Canned food
8.Sugaring and Salting
 Principle
Food is treated with strong salt solution or
strong sugar solution.
 Disadvantage
The food may become very salty or very
sweet.
• Examples:
Bacon, salted fish
9.Meat curing
 Principle
Meat is treated with salt or strong salt solution
containing NaNO3, KNO3 and which may
contain sugar and spices.
 Salt and sugar both cure meat by osmosis. In
addition to drawing the water from the food, they
dehydrate and kill the bacteria that make food
spoil.
 Nitrite or nitrate are used for retarding rancidity,
curing-pink color, killing bacterial
 Two curing methods
1. Wet (or brine) curing
2. Dry curing

In the wet curing, the curing ingredients were

mixed with boiling water to form”pickling" brine. But in
dry curing, the ingredients were simply rubbed into
the meat several times over the period of the cure.
• Disadvantage
 fall in the level of hemoglobin in the blood
 Malnutrition and reduced lifespan.
 Nitrates are harmless, but when nitrates are
ingested in the diet they are reduced to nitrites in
the body. Then nitrites may react to form
nitrosamines.
 Nitrosamines are carcinogenic.

• Examples: Salted fish, pork shoulder, ham, corned

beef, bacon.

Pork shoulder
10.Pickling in vinegar
 Principle
Food is kept in vinegar since micro-
organisms can not grow well in low pH value
solutions.
 Disadvantage
 Vinegar is a temporary preservative, because
enzymes continue to act, softening and spoiling
the product.
 Some kind of vinegar such as apple cider vinegar
will darken most vegetables and fruits.
 Examples: Sauces, pickled onions and
cucumbers (no animal products)
11.Use of food additives
 Principle
Food Additives, natural and synthetic compounds
added to food to supply nutrients, to enhance color,
flavor, or texture, and to prevent or delay spoilage.
Some additives can inactivates or kill micro-
organisms, retard chemical spoilage.

 Types of additives
 Natural additives
 Artificial additives
 Functions of food additives
 Preserve food
 Do not preserve food
• E-number
It is the reference number of food additives

The E Number List

• Disadvantage
 allergic reactions.
 hyperactivity or asthmatic symptoms especially
in children and young people.
 certain reactions.
12.Filtration
 Principle
Filtration can remove microorganisms from the
liquid,this method is used for clearing fluids.