Food processing and preservation are important for maintaining food quality and freshness. Preservation involves controlling and eliminating spoilage agents, while processing turns food into something more convenient to eat. Various methods include adding chemicals, dehydration, and heat treatment. Foods are usually processed in factories using sophisticated machinery, and stored to ensure quality before packaging. Traditional preservation methods include adding growth-restricting chemicals and heat preservation through canning. Gamma radiation is a controversial method due to concerns about its effects on food quality and safety.
Food processing and preservation are two techniques that are used to maintain the quality and freshness of foods. In terms of how they are done, food processing and storage are different; food preservation is only a part of the whole food processing procedure. Food processing is primarily concerned with both packaging and preservation, while food preservation is concerned with the control and elimination of food spoilage agents. Additionally, food processing is done to turn food into something more palatable and convenient to eat. There are various methods of preserving food, which include adding chemicals, dehydration, and heat treatment.
Perishable foods usually require little processing which usually involves thorough cleaning and inspection before being shipped and sold in stores. For example, fruits and vegetables are washed and sorted, while cheese is sliced and individually wrapped. Most food products, however, are processed in plants or factories using sophisticated machinery. Using these machines, low quality or spoiled food is automatically detected and rejected. High-quality foods are cleaned and then can be canned, canned, bottled or frozen.
Food processing and storage are interrelated, as foods are stored to ensure quality before being packaged for processing. Bacteria and other food spoilage agents are usually present in foods and in the places where they were grown and harvested. Foods then serve as a source of nutrition for these agents, which multiply rapidly and cause food spoilage. When a person accidentally eats spoiled food, he may suffer from food poisoning. To stop the growth of food spoilage agents, traditional food preservation methods are used which include the addition of growth-restricting chemicals and dehydration or removal of the water needed for growth.
Heat preservation involves exposing food to elevated temperatures that could kill off most food spoilage agents. The main form of heat processing and preservation of foods is canning, in which foods are sealed inside cans that are usually aluminum. To do this, food is placed and boiled in a can with an unsecured lid. The steam produced lets the air out, so the lid is sealed. To completely destroy any spoilage agents that may be present in the food, the contents of the can are heated to approximately 248°F (120°C).
One method of food preservation that is not generally accepted is the use of gamma radiation. Using this method, the bacteria in food are completely destroyed and the decomposition of fruits and vegetables is slowed down. Small parasites are killed with low levels of radiation. The radiation method, however, is a questionable process, considering that most people consider radiation to be harmful to the body. Some people even claim that radiation affects the quality of foods such as meat and agricultural products.
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