Fish Microbiology and Quality Assurance

Unit 4 - Food preservation techniques and microorganisms

4.1 Food preservation techniques and microorganisms
The foods of plant and animal origin contain several microorganisms and these along with natural food enzymes become active soon after the death of animal and harvest of plant foods. The intrinsic characters of the food and the environmental conditions influence the type and extent of microbial activity leading to spoilage which is characterized by deteriorative changes in food quality making it unfit for human consumption. The different preservation techniques have mainly aimed at reducing or eliminating microorganisms in food thereby prolonging or preventing the spoilage of foods. The preservation of foods is commonly done by use of low temperature, high temperature, drying, radiation and chemicals.