Food Processing :: essays research papers

Food ProcessingThroughout the history of mankind erudition has searched into the realmsof the unknown. Along with it bringing new discoveries, allowing for our livesto become healthier, more efficient, safer, and at the kindred succession, possibly moredangerous. Among the forces driving scientists into these many experiments, isthe desire to preserve the single fuel that keeps our lives going FOOD.As early as the beginning of the nineteenth century, major discoverys in provender conservation had begun. Soldiers and seamen, fighting in Napoleons ground forceswere living off of salt-preserved meats. These poorly cured diets providedminimal nutritional value, and patronage outbreaks of scurvy were developing. Itwas Napoleon who began the search for a better mechanism of aliment preservation,and it was he who offered 12,000-franc pieces to the person who devised a safeand dependable nutrient-preservation process.The winner was a French chemist named Nicolas Appert. He observ ed that fodder heated in sealed containers was preserved as long as the container remainedunopened or the seal did not leak. This became the turning point in foodpreservation history. Fifty years following the discovery by Nicolas Appert,another breakthrough had developed. Another Frenchman, named Louis Pasteur,noted the relationship between microorganisms and food spoilage. Thisbreakthrough change magnitude the dependability of the food canning process. As theyears passed new techniques assuring food preservation would come and go,opening new doors to further research.Farmers grow fruits and vegetables and plop livestock. The fruits andvegetables be 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 . nevertheless when the plants andanimals argon killed, the organisms yeast, mold, and bacterium begin to multiply,causing the food to lose zestfulness and change in falsify 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 destructive to the healthfulcharacteristics of fresh foods. Microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi,rapidly spoil food. Enzymes which are present in all defenseless food, promotedegradation and chemical changes affecting especially texture and flavor.atmospherical oxygen may react with food constituents, causing rancidity or colorchanges. Equally as harmful are infestations by insects and rodents, which