Food Processing :: essays research papers

Food ProcessingThroughout the history of mankind science has searched into the realmsof the unknown. Along with it bringing new discoveries, allowing for our livesto plough healthier, more efficient, safer, and at the same time, possibly moredangerous. Among the forces driving scientists into these many experiments, isthe desire to preserve the one fuel that keeps our lives going FOOD.As early as the beginning of the nineteenth century, major breakthroughs infood preservation had begun. Soldiers and seamen, fighting in Napoleons armywere living off of salt-preserved meats. These poorly cured foods providedminimal nutritional value, and frequent outbreaks of low-down were developing. Itwas Napoleon who began the search for a better mechanism of food preservation,and it was he who offered 12,000-franc pieces to the person who devised a safeand dependable food-preservation process.The winner was a French pharmacist named Nicolas Appert. He observed thatfood heated in sealed container s was preserved as long as the container remainedunopened or the seal did not leak. This became the bend point in foodpreservation history. Fifty years following the discovery by Nicolas Appert,another breakthrough had developed. Another Frenchman, named Louis Pasteur,noted the relationship among microorganisms and food spoilage. Thisbreakthrough increased the dependability of the food canning process. As theyears passed new techniques assuring food preservation would come and go,opening new doors to however research.Farmers grow fruits and vegetables and fatten livestock. The fruits andvegetables ar harvested, and the livestock is slaughtered for food. Whathappens between the time food leaves the farm and the time it is eaten at thetable? Like all living things, the plants and animals that become food containtiny organisms called microorganisms. Living, healthy plants and animalsautomatically control most of these microorganisms. But when the plants andanimals be killed, the o rganisms yeast, mold, and bacteria begin to multiply,causing the food to lose tang and change in color and texture. Just asimportant, food loses the nutrients that are necessary to build and replenishhuman bodies. All these changes in the food are what people refer to as foodspoilage. To keep the food from spoiling, usually in only a few days, it ispreserved. Many kinds of agents are potentially unwholesome to the healthfulcharacteristics of fresh foods. Microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi,rapidly spoil food. Enzymes which are present in all raw food, promotedegradation and chemic changes affecting especially texture and flavor.Atmospheric oxygen may react with food constituents, causing rancidity or colorchanges. Equally as harmful are infestations by insects and rodents, which