Storage does not improve the quality of any food. The quality of a food will also not decrease significantly during storage as long as the food is stored properly and used within the recommended time frame. Maintaining a food’s quality depends on several factors:
The quality of the raw product; the procedures used during processing
The way the food is stored; and the length of storage.
The recommended storage time takes these factors into consideration.
Since bacteria frequently get into food through careless food handling, keep everything — hands, refrigerator, freezer and storage containers — clean. Food commodities that are purchased from the market must be stored well if they must keep their quality. As soon return from the market the foods need to group into the following categories.
Dry storage items
Frozen items
Fresh items - based on the stability during storage.
Foods
Temperature Range
General Remarks
Frozen foods
-10°C to -20°C
Maximum temperature for all perishable foods is between 7.2°C to 10°C. Bananas are best stored at 20°C to 25°C or normal room temperature
Fish and sea foods
-5°C to -1.1°C
Meat and poultry
0.6°C to3.3°C
Milk and mlik products
3.3 to7.8°C
Fruits and vegetables
5.1°C to 7.2 °C
Eggs
7.2°C to 10°C
Canned products
21.1°C
All dry stores like flour, sugar, condiments
15°Cto 22°C
Recommended Storage Temperature for food Material: Depending on the space available the dry storage items like cereals and pulses can be stored for longer time. These can be cleaned to remove the stones, sand and washed to remove dust , dried and stored in the suitable containers, jute bags in piles in rat proof godowns. The store room should be properly ventilated , periodically fumigated and kept free from water logging to prevent dampening of stored commodities. The non perishables after processing into flours the shelf life will be decreased due to the storage temperature, relative humidity hence these should be used within a few weeks of production to ensure high quality. The perishable foods spoil due to the action of enzymes and micro organisms in them. The harvested vegetables start losing their vitality, turgidity and food value due to continuous respiration causes the food degradation. Low temperature retards the spoilage and other changes
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