FOOD PRESERVATION AND STORAGE

In the past few years preservation of food has been practiced in different ways due to food decay after harvest. For this reason, people where able to enjoy their harvest for a long time .Today, people have distorted from rural practice of preserving food to modern practice of preserving for fun. However, Food preservation is the process by which certain foods like vegetables and fruits are preserved from the growth of bacteria, yeast, fungi and other micro-organisms which causes food blemish. Food preservation practice should be done in a hygienic manner to observe the health of the people for it can cause food borne illness. The preservation of food should not affect the colour, taste or the texture of the food. However, there are several reasons why we preserve food in our society today. We preserve food for personal satisfaction, helps in acquiring more skills on how to reduce waste products, prepare for emergencies, it makes transportation of food and it’s environmentally friendly. There are different methods of food preservation and storage which differ from traditional techniques to industrial or modern techniques.

Methods of food preservation

There are many process designed to preserve food which involve a number of preservation methods. There are two methods of preserving food; the traditional and modern methods. In ancient times food was preserved in many ways including; freezing, salt, drying, sugar, smoking, drying, refrigeration, lye, pickling, jugging, jellying, canning and bottling, fermentation and curing. Drying method of preserving food was used to slow down the decay of food products such as vegetables and fruits using the power of the sun. It is said to be the oldest method of dehydration. For instance, in the Middle Eastern countries different cultures at different regions were drying food using the sun and the