Food preservation is the process of treating and handling
food in a way that preserves its edibility and nutrition value. The main effort is to stop or greatly slow down spoilage to prevent
foodborne illness (e.g. salting, cooling, cooking). However some methods utilise benign bacteria, yeasts or fungi to add specific qualities and to preserve food (e.g. cheese, wine). While maintaining or creating
nutritional value, texture and
flavour is important in preserving its value as food; this is a culturally dependent determinant as what qualifies as food fit for humans in one culture may not qualify in another culture.
Preservation usually involves preventing the growth of bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms, as well as retarding the oxidation of fats which cause rancidity. It also includes processes to inhibit natural ageing and discolouration that can occur during food preparation such as the enzymatic browning reaction in apples which causes browning when apples are cut. Some preservation methods require the food to be sealed after treatment to prevent re-contamination with microbes; others, such as drying, allow food to be stored without any special containment for long periods.
Common methods of applying these processes include drying, spray drying, freeze drying, freezing,vacuum-packing, canning, preserving in syrup, sugar crystallisation, food irradiation, adding preservatives or inert gases such as carbon dioxide. Other methods that not only help to preserve food, but also add flavour, include pickling, salting, smoking, preserving in syrup or alcohol, sugar crystallisation and curing.
Preservation processes include
