Food Preservation and Storage

Food Preservation Storage

Lesson 05: Principles and Methods of Food Preservation

Use of High Temperatures

The process of heating was used centuries ago before its action was understood. Food is heated up or cooked. Heat is used to inactivate organisms or enzymes of spoilage significance in the foods. Microorganisms are killed by heat because the application of heat coagulates the food proteins and inactivates the microbial enzymes and thus results in death of microorganisms. The examples include all forms of cooked food, pasteurization, milk sterilized by UHT (ultra high temperature), canning etc. One of the most important modern applications of the heat preservation is the pasteurization of milk.

Heat treatment of food may be given in different ways:

1. Pasteurization (temperature below 100°C)
   Pasteurization is a heat treatment involving temperatures below 100°C that kills a part but not all the microorganisms present in food. Milk, for example, is usually heated to 63°C for 30 min or 71°C for 15 seconds or in UHT 138°C for 2-4 seconds. Examples include milk, wine, beer, fruit juices and aerated waters which are routinely pasteurized. The mode of heating can be steam, hot water, dry heat or electric currents. The products are cooled promptly after the heat treatment. Pasteurization is usually supplemented by other methods to prolong shelf-life.
2. Boiling (temperature at 100°C)
   Cooking of rice, vegetables, meat, fish etc. at home is usually done by boiling the food with water and involves a temperature around 100°C.
3. Canning (temperature above 100°C)
   Canning is the process in which the foods are heated in hermetically sealed (airtight) jars or cans to a temperature that destroys microorganisms and inactivates enzymes that could be a health hazard or cause the food to spoil. The vacuum seal formed after heating and cooling in the process ensures that no microorganism can get into the product. The degree of heat and the length of time of heating vary with the type of food and the kinds of microorganisms that are likely to occur in it. High-acid foods such as fruits and tomatoes can be processed or "canned" in boiling water, while low-acid vegetables and meats must be processed in a pressure canner at 121°C (15 psi pressure). Tin-coated steel cans are most commonly used followed by glass containers. Nowadays, containers made of aluminum and plastics in the form of pouches or rigid containers are also increasingly used. Examples of food preserved by canning are- all kinds of tinned foods, such as soup, meat, beans, cereal grains, legumes, nuts, and other various dried food products such as fruit, coffee, milk, soups, fish, meat and vegetables.