Food Processing And Preservation

11 Pages 2629 Words

ows the rate at which it spoils. Today food processors provide a diet richer and more varied than ever before by using six major methods. They are canning, drying or dehydration, freezing, freeze-drying, fermentation or pickling, and irradiation.

Canning
The process of canning is sometimes called sterilization because the heat treatment of the food eliminates all microorganisms that can spoil the food and those that are harmful to humans, including directly pathogenic bacteria and those that produce lethal toxins. Most commercial canning operations are based on the principle that bacteria destruction increases tenfold for each 10° C increase in temperature. Food exposed to high temperatures for only minutes or seconds retains more of its natural flavor. In the Flash 18 process, a continuous system, the food is flash-sterilized in a pressurized chamber to prevent the superheated food from boiling while it is placed in containers. Further sterilizing is not required.

Freezing
Although prehistoric humans stored meat in ice caves, the food...