Preserving Food For Balanced Eating

2023 Author: Lynn Laird | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 21:10

For centuries, food preservation has been a crucial and integral issue of nutrition. Due to many processes, designed to prevent the growth of microorganisms and to slow down the oxidation of fats, food can preserve its nutritional qualities for months. We put on cling film to say "goodbye" to plastic. Are there any tips for storing food in the fridge and what it has to do with a balanced diet, read below.

Food preservation: why is it important?

In general, food spoilage can be defined as any change that makes food harmful for human consumption and increases the need for food preservation. Primarily, these changes can be caused by a variety of factors, including contamination by microorganisms, infestation by insects, or degradation by endogenous enzymes, naturally occurring in food.

In what is due the changes that cause food spoilage?

Since physical and chemical changes, such as tearing of plant or animal tissue or the oxidation of certain constituents of food, are responsible for spoilage of food products, food preservation is essential. Provided that those obtained from plant or animal sources begin to deteriorate soon after harvest or slaughter, action must be taken quickly. Enzymes contained in cells of plant and animal tissues can be released as a result of any mechanical damage inflicted during post-harvest handling. As a result, the cellular material begins to break down. Chemical reactions catalyzed by enzymes result in degradation of food quality such as the development of bad flavors, deterioration of texture and loss of nutrients. Typical microorganisms which cause food spoilage are bacteria, for example, Lactobacillus; yeasts such as Saccharomyces and molds of the Rhizopus type.

Microbial contamination

It is true that bacteria and fungi (yeasts and molds) are the main types of microorganisms responsible for food spoilage and foodborne illness. However, food can be contaminated with microorganisms at any time during harvest, storage, processing, distribution, handling or preparation. In this sense, the main sources of microbial contamination are soil, air, animal feed, animal skins and intestines, plant surfaces, wastewater and machines or utensils used for food processing..

Food preservation: several techniques

Since refrigerators were not yet invented, people used parts facing north and dug deep holes so as not to deteriorate food products and safeguard them for a long time.

Smoking, cooling, freezing, boiling, heating, sweetening, preserving in brine, salting, canning, are a large part of the ancient techniques that we exploited for a long time.

When in 1834, an American invented the first refrigerating machine, during the years to follow, we always sought to find a method of preserving food, healthy, efficient, having a lower energy contribution and a lower carbon footprint.

Before the appearance of the modern refrigerator in 1930, patented by Albert Einstein, mankind went through several French, German and Swedish technological inventions.

Food preservation by cold

Low temperature storage prolongs the shelf life of many foods. In general, low temperatures reduce the growth rates of microorganisms and slow down many of the physical and chemical reactions that occur in food.

Refrigeration

The shelf life of many foods can be increased by storing them at temperatures below 4˚C (40˚ F). Commonly refrigerated foods, depending on usage, include fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, dairy products, and meats. Some foods, such as tropical fruits (eg, bananas), are damaged if exposed to low temperatures. In addition, refrigeration cannot improve the quality of rotten food, it can only delay spoilage. A problem of modern mechanical refrigeration - that of food dehydration due to moisture condensation has been overcome by mechanisms for controlling humidity in the storage chamber and by proper packaging techniques.

The freezing process

If you want to freeze a food, it is necessary that it be left at a temperature below 0 ° C, which leads to the gradual conversion of the water, present in the food, into ice. So freezing is a crystallization process that begins with a nucleus or a seed derived from a non-aqueous particle or a cluster of water molecules (formed when the temperature is reduced below 0 ° C). This seed needs to be a certain size in order to provide a suitable site for the crystal to begin to grow. If the physical conditions are suitable for the presence of many seeds for crystallization, then a large number of small ice crystals will form. However, the size and number of ice crystals influence the final quality of many frozen foods, for example,the smooth texture of ice cream indicates the presence of a large number of small ice crystals.

Quality of frozen foods

Due to improper freezing or storage, food can undergo detrimental changes in quality. When foods containing large amounts of water are frozen slowly, they may experience a loss of liquid, known as a drip, during thawing. As a result, this loss of fluid results in dehydration and loss of nutrients in frozen food products.

Sometimes poorly packaged frozen foods lose small amounts of moisture during storage, resulting in surface dehydration (commonly referred to as freezer burn). Frozen meats burnt in the freezer look like brown paper and quickly become rancid. Freezer burn can be minimized by the use of tightly wrapped packaging and the elimination of temperature fluctuations during storage.

The importance of storage

Primarily, food storage is an important part of food preservation. Many reactions that can deteriorate the quality of a food product occur during storage. By the way, the nutrient content of foods can be affected by improper storage. For example, a significant amount of vitamin C and thiamine can be lost from food during storage. Consequently, other undesirable quality changes which may occur during storage include color changes, development of abnormal flavors and loss of texture. In short, a properly designed food storage system keeps products fresh or processed for an extended period of time, while maintaining quality.

Tips for the good preservation of food products

Thanks to a few tips, food lasts longer. Lately, many manufacturers design their refrigeration appliances with one main point in mind: air circulation. This is the important thing to consider when looking for a new refrigerator, because efficient air circulation is not only good for your food, but will require less constant cooling and therefore less energy consuming.

You won't go wrong by testing the tips below

1. Keep meat uncut and wrapped until ready to eat because this will keep it fresher and prevent contamination with other foods. Once discovered, place it on a plate, covering it with plastic wrap. You can also put it in an airtight container.
2. Keep fruits and vegetables separate as they give off different gases that can spoil other foods.
3. Place similar products on the shelves and do not overcrowd the refrigerator. This will allow the air flow to reach all the items and keep the temperature constant throughout the fridge.
4. Avoid washing fresh produce before storing it in your refrigerator. Moisture can accelerate mold growth.
5. Hot foods should be cooled before they are put in the fridge.
6. Freeze small amounts of food at a time as this speeds up and improves freezing.
7. Store fresh washed herbs in zippered bags
8. Keep frequently used items in the front ensuring easy access. This will reduce the loss of fresh air when opening the refrigerator door.
9. Finally, try not to leave stale food in the fridge so as not to create the premise of a stench.

If this does happen anyway, find out how to fix it in a previous article on tips for neutralizing stubborn odors in the fridge.