Food items usually fall into the category of being short-lived and perishable. If you do not take any precautionary measures, these can spoil rapidly. You need to store the food items properly to prevent them from getting rotten. You will also notice that not all food items will be safe in the same place. Some food items remain best in commercial walk in freezers or fridges. Others are best to keep at room temperature or in a mixture. On the other sides, pasta and noodles are safe in a can. The different storage places indicate the different atmospheres these perishable items need to stay safe and edible. The tips we follow to preserve these perishable food items are processing and preservation.
Many businesses related to the food business adopted many modern and old preservation methods to keep the food safe. The food items you see in the market might not be as new and fresh as you think. It is essential to preserve the food appropriately to retain its flavor and texture. Many factors can make the food items go bad sooner than we expect. The influencing factors are temperature, the time limit, air pressure, and the gases surrounding the food items. Your food items can go rotten if you do not take precautions against the above factors.
Bacteria and fungi are the two main kinds of microorganisms that spoil food items and cause food-borne illnesses. Sometimes when the food goes spoilt, it is because of the growth of either Pathogenic bacteria or Spoilage bacteria. Pathogenic bacteria in food can cause infections and make you sick if you eat the infected food items. It may even cause death in some cases. On the other side, Spoilage bacteria are not as harmful as Pathogenic ones. Spoilage bacteria will only change the flavor, color, and smell of the food items, but it will not cause any life-threatening infections.
Food processing and preservation techniques:
You need to follow some processing and preservation techniques to ensure that your food stays safe to eat even after a long time. In food processing and preservation, we transform food items into a form you can store for months. Food preservation stops the growth of bacteria and food spoilage with the help of several methods. In this blog, we are enlisting some processing and preservation methodologies that can retain the food for a long time without losing its nutritious value. These useful tips and mathods are as follows.
Freezing the food items:
The first and most effective preservation method is none other than freezing. These low-temperature food preservation techniques slow down the growth of food items. You can increase the shelf life of food items by keeping them in the freezer. The ideal temperature for keeping the food in the freezer is below 0°C. Make sure you wrap the food items in foil and then keep them in a freezer-safe bag to secure the food items. Remember that not all food items will be safe in the freezer.
The food items you can preserve in the freezer are nuts, beef, poultry, seafood, veggies, fruits, cooked pasta, cooked rice, cheese, butter, and many more items. Make sure you blanch the veggies before freezing them. Blanching will help you maintain the quality of your veggies even after freezing.
Drying or dehydrating the food:
The second method you can use to preserve the food items is drying. This technique is also known as dehydrating. In this preservation technique, we need to remove moisture content from the food items. You need to remove enough moisture so bacteria and yeast cannot grow within the food items. Dehydration is an old methodology that people used for foods in ancient times to keep food safe. Some food items you can preserve by drying are celery, carrots, apples, potatoes, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, bananas, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, corn, and green beans, and tomatoes. You can follow various methods for drying the food items. Some techniques you can use in drying are Spray drying, Drum drying, Freeze Drying, Microwave-vacuum drying, Shelf drying, and combined thermal hybrid drying.
Pickling or salting the food items:
Salting or pickling is the preservation method in which you keep the food items in the brine. You can stop the growth of the bacteria in the food items by keeping them in the acid solution. Many people confuse fermentation and chemical pickling. Both of these methods fall into the same category but have different specifications.
Canning:
Canning is also a preservation technique to keep the food safe for a long time. This process involves keeping the food items in an air-tight container and heating them at a high temperature to destroy all the microorganisms that can spoil the food. Canning is one of the oldest food preservation techniques most people used in ancient times.
