food preservation
food preservation Treatment of foodstuffs to prolong the time for which they can be kept before spoiling. Salting, pickling, and fermentation preserve food chemically. Chemical preservatives, such as sodium benzoate, can also be added to foods. In canning, meats and vegetables are sterilized by heat after being sealed into airtight cans. Cold storage at 5°C (41°F) prolongs the life of foods temporarily, while deep-freezing at −5°C (23°F) or below greatly extends the acceptable storage period. In the technique of freeze-drying, frozen foods are placed in a vacuum chamber and the water in them is removed as vapour; the foods can be fully reconstituted at a later date. Since the early 1990s irradiation, the preservation of food by subjecting it to low levels of radiation in order to kill micro-organisms, has been increasingly used.
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food preservation
