FOOD PRESERVATION

(TECHNIQUES FOR FOOD PRESERVATION)

BY- MD RAIHAN ARFIN

AMITY UNIVERSITY RAJASTHAN, (JAIPUR)

B. TECH- CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

SUBMITTED TO: DR NAVEEN KUMAR SIR

MARCH 22, 2018

1
Food is any commodity that we intake or consume for the energy requirement and proper
functioning, life and growth of our body. As it is very much evident from the definition
of food itself that how important is it for all living beings, so there is need for
maintaining the quality of food and prevent it from any kind of spoilage or
contamination so that it is safe for human consumption.

So, to maintain the quality and other values of food we need to preserve it and thus we
define the term Food Preservation as the application of various techniques for
preventing the food from getting spoiled or contaminated so as to increase its shelf life
and also keeping it fit for human consumption.

There are various techniques of food preservation which can be classified into different
classes as under:

 Traditional preservation technologies:

1. Drying.
2. Freezing.
3. Canning.
4. Preservation by Sugar and Salt.
5. Smoking.
6. Control of pH.
7. Control of water activity.

 Ingredients:
1. Use of natural Antimicrobials.
2. Use of Antioxidants.

2
 Other methods of food preservation:
1. Membrane filtration techniques in food preservation.
2. High-intensity light.
3. Ultrasound as a preservation technology.
4. Pulsed electric fields.

1) Traditional preservation method:

a) Drying: Drying is the simple process of dehydrating foods until there is not enough
moisture to support microbial activity. Drying removes the water needed by bacteria,
yeasts, and molds or any other microorganisms need to grow. If adequately dried and
properly stored, dehydrated foods are shelf stable (safe for storage at room
temperature). The drying food preservation method is easy to do, very safe, and can
be used for most types of foods (meats, fruits, and vegetables).

There are several methods for drying foods. Two of the easiest and most common that
can be used in any climate are oven drying and drying with an electric dehydrator
appliance; these methods are described below. The other methods are air drying (in
the shade during warm weather), sun drying (limited to desert climates), solar drying
(requires specially built dryer), and pit oven drying (useful when other methods are
impractical). 

Basically, drying can be done by two processes viz. natural drying and mechanical
dehydration or artificial drying based on source of energy. Natural drying takes place
under the influence of sunlight and wind and is of three types viz. sun, solar and shade
drying. In natural drying there is no control over temperature, air flow and humidity
whereas in artificial drying, these conditions are well controlled.

3
Sun drying:

Drying the food product under natural sunny conditions is called as sun drying. No
energy is required for the drying process. To practice sun drying of foods, hot days
are desirable with minimum temperatures of 35°C with low humidity. Poor quality
produce can’t be used for natural drying to achieve good quality dried product. The
lower limit of moisture content by this method is approximately 15 per cent. Problems
of contamination and intermittent drying are generally encountered with sun drying. It
is only possible in areas of low humidity.

Solar drying:

Solar drying uses designed structures to collect and enhance solar radiation. Solar
driers generate high air temperature and low humidity which results in faster drying.
This drier is faster than sun-drying, and also requires less drying area. But it cannot be
used on cloudy days. Generally, three types of solar driers are used, as (1) the
absorption or hot box type driers in which the product is directly heated by sun, (2)
the indirect or convection driers in which the product is exposed to warm air which is
heated by means of a solar absorber or heat exchanger and (3) drier, which is
combination of first and second type.

Oven drying:

A conventional oven with a thermostatic setting of 60°C is suitable for oven drying of
fruits, vegetables, fruit leathers and meats. This is a kind of cabinet drier.

4
b) Freezing:
Freezing in food processing, method of preserving food by lowering
the temperature to inhibit microorganism growth. There are certain microorganisms
responsible for the spoilage of food or deterioration in the quality of food and are
sensitive to low temperature ranges. So, by maintaining low temperatures we inhibit
the growth of such microorganisms and thus increase the shelf life of the food
commodity. Most commercial freezing is done either in cold air kept in motion by
fans (blast freezing) or by placing the foodstuffs in packages or metal trays on
refrigerated surfaces (contact freezing).
Fresh produce contains chemical compounds called enzymes which cause the loss of
colour, loss of nutrients, flavour changes, and colour changes in frozen fruits and
vegetables. These enzymes must be inactivated to prevent reactions which deteriorate
the quality of food from taking place.
Enzymes in vegetables are inactivated by the blanching process. Blanching is the
exposure of the vegetables to boiling water or steam for a brief period of time. The
vegetable must then be rapidly cooled in ice water to prevent it from cooking.
Contrary to statements in some publications on home freezing, in most cases
blanching is absolutely essential for producing quality frozen vegetables. Blanching
also helps to destroy microorganisms on the surface of the vegetable and to make
some vegetables, such as broccoli and spinach, more compact.

Water makes up over 90 percent of the weight of most fruits and vegetables. This
water and other chemical substances are held within the fairly rigid cell walls which
give support structure, and texture to the fruit or vegetable. Freezing fruits and
vegetables actually consists of freezing the water contained in the plant cells.

When the water freezes, it expands and the ice crystals cause the cell walls to rupture.
Consequently, the texture of the produce, when thawed, will be much softer than it
was when raw. This textural difference is especially noticeable in products which are
usually consumed raw.

5
c) Canning:

Canning is the process of applying heat to food that’s sealed in a jar in order to
destroy any microorganisms that can cause food spoilage. Proper canning techniques
stop this spoilage by heating the food for a specific period of time and killing these
unwanted microorganisms. During the canning process, air is driven from the jar and
a vacuum is formed as the jar cools and seals.

There are approved methods by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
These are water-bath canning and pressure canning:

 Water-bath canning: This method, sometimes referred to as hot water canning, uses
a large kettle of boiling water. Filled jars are submerged in the water and heated to an
internal temperature of 212 degrees for a specific period of time. Use this method for
processing high-acid foods, such as fruit, items made from fruit, pickles, pickled food,
and tomatoes.

 Pressure canning: Pressure canning uses a large kettle that produces steam in a
locked compartment. The filled jars in the kettle reach an internal temperature of 240
degrees under a specific pressure (stated in pounds) that’s measured with a dial gauge
or weighted gauge on the pressure-canner cover. Use a pressure canner for processing
vegetables and other low-acid foods, such as meat, poultry, and fish.

d) About Sugar and Salt Curing:

Many foods decay very rapidly after harvesting, especially meats. A combination of
salt and sugar reduces the water content of meats, fruits and vegetables aiding in
preservation. In meats sugar and salt curing is typically accompanied by smoking or
some other cooking method. Most preservation methods used since ancient times
attempt to reduce water content to between 10 and 50 percent, a level that reduces
decay but maintains palatability.

6
 Effects of Salt:
Sodium chloride or table salt is the main ingredient used in the preservation of meats.
Salting meat draws water out and tying up the water within, making it unavailable for
chemical reactions that cause decay. High concentrations of salt also interfere with the
replication of microorganisms such as bacteria.
Salt curing frequently uses salts containing nitrates. Nitrates act as antioxidants in
preserved foods, preventing decay and spoilage through oxidation and free radical
generation. However, high consumption of preserved foods containing nitrates may be
linked to a higher risk of cancer.

Effects of Sugar:
Just like with salt, some forms of sugar can draw water out of food and tie up water
within the food so it is not available for biochemical reactions. According to the Food
and Agriculture Organization, fructose and sucrose are very effective for preserving
food while glucose is not. Sugar may also encourage the growth of healthy bacteria
that prevent bacteria that will make you sick from growing. High concentrations of
sugar also exert osmotic pressure that will draw water out of bacteria, preventing them
from growing.

e) Smoking:
It is the process that cooks, flavours and preserves food exposing it to the smoke from
burning wood. Smoke is antimicrobial and antioxidant and most often meats and fish
are smoked. Various methods of smoking are used like Hot smoking, Cold smoking,
Smoke roasting and Smoke baking. Smoking as a preservative enhances the risk of
cancer.

f) Effect of pH:
The pH is the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion activity (where activity
approximates concentration if the solution becomes more dilute). It is evident that pH
is an important factor affecting growth of micro-organisms in food because it affects:

7
(i) microbial energy metabolism involving the build-up of gradients of hydrogen
ions across membranes.

(ii) microbial enzyme activity and stability of cellular macromolecules.

Moreover, pH also affects the sensory properties of many foodstuffs. This
applies not only to taste, but also to consistency of food. For example,
lowering the pH causes coagulation of milk casein and meat proteins, changes
the solubility of pectins,

Micro-organisms can survive and grow only in low-pH environments if they are able
to maintain their cytoplasmic pH fairly constant at near-neutral levels, i.e., to maintain
a `pH homeostasis'. `Passive pH homeostasis' means that micro- organisms either
prevent external protons from entering the cell or increase the buffering capacity of
their cytoplasm by synthesis of glutamate and/or citrate.

Growth ceases once the energy expenditure for active pH homeostasis adds so much
to the maintenance energy that the rate of energy supply by catabolismis exceeded.
From these considerations, it is evident that the minimum pH for growth, as well as
the rate of inactivation of micro-organisms by acid is affected by:

(i) the nature of the acidulant;

(ii) the presence of other inhibitory factors (e.g., low water activity, preservatives,
low temperature) that may interfere with energy metabolism or increase the
need for maintenance energy.
(iii) the ability of the micro-organism to react to acid stress and to maintain passive
and active pH homeostasis.

With respect to their capabilities to grow at acid pH, micro-organisms of relevance to

foods may be subdivided into five groups:

Group 1 comprises virtually all species of yeasts and moulds. The minimum pH for
their growth is outside the range of the pH of foods as acid as lemon juice. Hence, pH

8
 as a single hurdle will not be able to preserve a food from spoilage by these
organisms.

Group 2 comprises bacteria that are still able to grow in acid foods with Ph values
between 3 and 4. These bacteria include the acetic acid bacteria, Alicyclobacillus, and
some species of lactic acid bacteria (Oenococcus and various Lactobacillus species).

Group 3 comprises most of the strains of lactic acid bacteria capable of growth at
rather high levels of lactic and acetic acids but growing poorly or not at all at pH
values below 4.0. This applies, for example, to the lactococci.

Group 4 comprises most bacterial agents of food spoilage or foodborne diseases, and
certain bacteria relevant for some food fermentations. Important bacterial groups in
this category are Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, as well as most
genera forming heat resistant spores (Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Clostridium).

Group 5 consists of some species very sensitive to pH, many of them from marine
habitats. A typical representative of this group is Shewanella putrefaciens, a major
psychrotrophic spoilage organism of fish. This bacterium is unable to grow at pH
below 6.0.

g) Water activity:
It is generally defined as the amount of free water available for the microbial growth
in a food commodity. Other definition also describes it as the partial vapor pressure of
water in a substance divided by the standard state partial vapor pressure of water. It is
represented by aw.
The optimum aw for growth of the majority of microorganisms is in the range
0.99±0.98. Every microorganism has limiting aw values below which it will not grow,
form spores, or produce toxic metabolites. Considering aw in relation to microbial
stability, the minimum aw values that permit microbial growth for different types of
microorganisms are of great concern.

9
Table 1: Range of water activity and its effect on food spoilage.

S.No. Range of aw Microorganisms inhibited Examples of food

1 1.00±0.95 Some yeasts, Gram negative rods, Fresh foods; foods
bacterial spores containing 40% sucrose
or 7% salt (canned
foods, processed cheese,
several sausages, bread,
etc.)
2 0.95-0.91 Most cocci, lactobacilli, Foods containing 50%
vegetative cells of bacilli, some sucrose or 12% salt
moulds (mayonnaise, bacon,
some hard cheeses, raw
ham, low-calorie jams,
etc.)
3 0.94 Growth and toxin production by
all types of Clostridium botulinum
4 0.91-0.86 Most yeasts Foods containing 65%
sucrose or 15% salt (dry
ham, fruit jams, fruit
juice
concentrates, some hard
cheeses, etc.)
5 0.86 Aerobic growth of
Staphylococcus aureus
6 0.86-0.80 Most moulds Foods containing
15±20% water (fruit
cake, high moisture
prunes, sweetened
condensed milk, etc.)
7 0.80-0.75 Most halophilic bacteria Foods with 26% salt or
very high sugar
content (salted fish,
molasses, prunes,
10
 fondants, etc.)
8 0.75-0.65 Xerophilic moulds Foods containing less
than 10% water
(dates, figs, nuts, rolled
oats, etc.)

2) Ingredients:

a) Use of natural antimicrobials:

Food antimicrobials are chemical compounds added to or present in foods that retard
microbial growth or kill microorganisms. The functions of food antimicrobials are to
inhibit or inactivate spoilage microorganisms and pathogenic microorganisms. The
latter function has increased in importance in the past 10±15 years as food processors
search for more and better tools to improve food safety. Prior to recent approvals of
certain compounds to control foodborne pathogens by worldwide regulatory agencies,
one of the only uses of antimicrobials to control a pathogen was nitrite or nitrate
against Clostridium botulinum in cured meats.
A number of compounds are approved by international regulatory agencies
for use as direct food antimicrobials.
The primary incentive for searching for effective antimicrobials among naturally
occurring compounds is to expand the spectrum of antimicrobial activity over that of
the regulatory-approved substances.

Compounds or group of compounds used as antimicrobials:

Alkyl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid.
Acetic acid and acetate salts, diacetates, dehydroacetic acid.
Benzoic acid and benzoate salts.
Dimethyl dicarbonate, diethyl decarbonate.
Lactic acid and lactate salts.
Lysozyme.
Natamycin.
Nitrites and nitrates.

11
 Phosphates.
Propionic acid and propionate salts.
Sorbic acid and sorbate salts.
Sulfite derivatives.

b) Natural Anti-oxidants:
Foods containing fats and other lipids, terpenes and branched hydrocarbons are not
stable on long storage or intensive heating. Unsaturated, and particularly,
polyunsaturated fatty acids bound in lipids are oxidized following different
mechanisms with formation of free radicals, which are further converted into
hydroperoxides. Hydroperoxides are odourless and tasteless, but they decompose with
formation of volatile compounds, such as alkanals, alk-2-enals, alka-2,4-dienals,
different ketones, alcohols and hydrocarbons. These products give rise to specific
objectionable off-flavours, called rancid flavour notes. The sensory value, and thus
the food acceptability, is substantially deteriorated by rancidification. The
rancidification can be prevented by different methods, such as by using fat materials
poor in polyenoic (polyunsaturated) fatty acids, by protecting food products against
the access of oxygen or, most often, by adding inhibitors of oxidation. The most
important inhibitors are antioxidants, which are able to inactivate free radicals formed
during the autoxidation. Most antioxidants are phenolic substances, more rarely
nitrogen heterocycles. The most active antioxidants contain ortho or para disubstituted
hydroxyl groups. In case of synthetic substances, para disubstituted derivatives are
preferred because of lower toxicity, but among natural antioxidants the ortho
disubstitution prevails. In the food industry, synthetic antioxidants are mostly used as
they are pure, cheap, safe, and readily available. However, modern consumers are
afraid of any synthetic chemicals.

12
 (Natural Anti-oxidants)

3) Other method of food preservation:

a) Membrane filtration techniques in food preservation:

Commercial membrane processing has developed over the last 40 years and is
becoming increasingly important in the food industry for concentration and
fractionation processes. The basic principle is to separate a single liquid feed into two
liquid streams by means of a solid membrane. The membrane is selective, allowing
some materials to pass through (the permeate stream), while other materials are
retained (the retentate stream). In some cases, it is the permeate stream that is desired,
in others it is the retentate, while sometimes both products are of value. The main
criterion for separation is size, although other factors, such as surface charge or shape
of the molecule or particle, may have an effect. The driving force for the separation is
pressure difference across the membrane.

Membrane processing holds several significant advantages over competing

approaches to concentration or separation used in the food and biotechnology
industries:
membrane filtration is a purely physical operation and hence there are no
chemical changes to the process streams the separations are pressure driven and no
excessive heating is required, hence there is little risk of heat damage, resulting in
flavour or other quality changes to food components, or heat denaturation of enzymes
no phase changes are involved, which may lead to reduced energy use compared to
operations involving evaporation the size spectrum of materials separated by
membranes is enormous, ranging over several orders of magnitude from the smallest
ions to particles such as fat globules or bacterial cells.

General principles of membrane processing:

The basic unit for separation is the membrane, whose properties determine the level of
separation achieved. There are three classical membrane processes:

1. Reverse osmosis (RO, sometimes referred to as hyperfiltration) is a concentration

process in which even monovalent ions are retained by the membrane.

13
 2. Ultrafiltration (UF) operates in the approximate molecular weight cut-off
(MWCO) range 500±500 000 Daltons. Generally, lower molecular weight species,
such as simple sugars or amino acids, can pass through into the permeate, while
macromolecules, such as proteins, polysaccharides or fats, will be retained.

3. Microfiltration (MF) separates species in the approximate range 0.1±10 micro

meter, such that some macromolecules may pass into the permeate, while larger
macromolecules or colloidal structures and fat globules would be retained.

b) High intensity light used as preservation technology:

In response to the ever-present concern over potential foodborne illness and the
universal expectation of consumers for wholesome foods, food scientists, engineers
and processors are seeking more efficient, effective and feasible methods of reducing
pests, spoilage organisms and pathogens from foods. High-intensity white light
treatment, a non-thermal method for shelf life extension and pathogen control, offers
food processors one such `weapon' in the war on pests. High-intensity light, also
described as pulsed broad-spectrum white light, is a decontamination or sterilization
technology that can be used for the rapid inactivation of microorganisms on food
surfaces, equipment and food packaging materials. Surface decontamination of food
products using pulsed high-intensity light has many potential benefits to the food
industry. High-intensity light is a non-thermal food preservation intervention, with the
ability to minimize the deleterious effects of thermal processing and chemical
treatments on quality and sensory attributes. Two additional advantages of this
technology are, first, it is cost effective, with minimal operating and maintenance
costs once equipment is in place and secondly, it is regarded as a relatively safe and
non-toxic treatment. Data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of
the United States, for approval of UV light treatments for fruit juices, supports the
claim that broad-spectrum white light provides sufficient antimicrobial inactivation
and commercial sterilization with no known toxic effects. The terms ultraviolet (UV)
light,1 broad-spectrum white light, pulsed white light, and near infra-red light are
synonymous with high intensity light.

14
 The effectiveness of high-intensity light as an antimicrobial intervention for food is
dependent upon multiple factors. Factors such as the initial microbial concentration,
food surface constituents, presence of buffering compounds, as well as the number,
intensity and speed of pulses delivered and impact efficacy.

c) Ultrasound as a preservation technology:

The destruction of microorganisms by power ultrasound has been of considerable
interest since the 1920s when the work of Harvey and Loomis (1929) was first
published. Their work examined the reduction in light emission from a seawater
suspension of rod shaped Bacillus Fisheri caused by sonication (which they called
`raying') at 375 kHz under the controlled temperature conditions. They showed that
heating appeared to injure the bacterial colonies but that ultrasound appeared to have
a greater effect. Reducing the temperature during sonication and maintaining it at 19
degrees Celsius prevented re-growth of the bacteria as all the bacteria appeared to be
dead when viewed under a microscope.

The particular advantage of ultrasonic preservation is that it can reach crevices that
are not easily reached by conventional cleaning methods. Once dislodged into the
bulk solution any harmful species are subject to ultrasonically assisted disinfection. In
solution ultrasound can be of great use in the general sterilisation and disinfection of
food materials particularly where ultrasound is used in conjunction with a
conventional sterilisation technology, e.g., heat or the use of a biocide. Research
studies to date have focused on a range of different experimental procedures, and
biological systems to study the inactivation effect of ultrasound.

d) Pulsed electric fields:

The increasing consumer demand for fresh-like foods without excessive loss of
flavours or nutrients during processing has resulted in the development of mild
preservation and processing technologies. Among these novel processes the use of
pulsed electric fields (PEF), a physical technology based on power electronics,
permits operation at low or moderate temperature and therefore represents a

15
promising non-thermal preservation alternative to heat pasteurisation. During the
1970s, PEF development branched into two different fields:

(a) reversible electro-permeabilization for DNA transfer into cells;

(b) microbial inactivation and food preservation.

Recent improvements in the field of electronics and energy control facilitate the
development of more powerful and effective equipment, giving a new impetus to PEF
technology. Initial investigations on microbial inactivation induced by PEF and on
PEF- processing of various fluid foods have been reviewed by several authors, first, to
summarise the basic physical and biological principles underlying this `emerging
technology'; then to report and comment on the main results from more than 100
research contributions published dealing mainly with microbial inactivation and with
effects on food constituents. Finally, we draw conclusions from these data in terms of
advantages and limitations of PEF processing as a preservation technology, and of
potential food applications.

Principles and technology:

PEF processing for food preservation implies applying short electric pulses (usually
1±20 micro seconds, but with a range of 50 ns to several milliseconds) with a high
field strength (15±80 kVcm-1) to samples placed between two electrodes in a batch or
continuous treatment chamber. To generate such a fast-electrical discharge, different
kinds of pulse-forming networks (PFN) are used. The main components of a PFN are:

1. Power supply: A high voltage generator which supplies electrical energy

(W) at the selected voltage (V0).

2. One or several capacitor banks, inductors or/and resistors.

3. One or several switch(es) which deliver electrical energy (W) to the electrodes and
the food sample.

16
4. One (or several) treatment chamber(s) with two electrodes between which the food
sample either flows or is encased.

5. An oscilloscope to measure voltage across the electrodes and display pulse shape.

References:

[1] [Woodhead Publishing in Food Science and Technology] P. Zuethen- Food

preservation.

[2] http://www.dummies.com/food-drink/canning/food-preservation-methods-
canning-freezing-and-drying/,

[3] https://www.livestrong.com/article/432144-how-salts-sugars-work-to-preserve-
foods/.

[4] https://www.britannica.com/topic/freezing-food-preservation.

17