Mankind has been preserving food for centuries, using salt and sugar to prolong safe food storage. Preservatives are present in low-fat spreads, cheeses, margarine, dressings and baked products, and in foods containing dried fruit. Preservatives prevent the growth of microbes that can make food unsafe to eat and extend shelf life as well as preserve color and flavor. Preservatives not only have to extend the safety and quality of food, but must do so without harming people who consume them.
Benzoates
Louis Pasteur proved the presence of bacteria caused food to spoil, sparking renewed effort in food sanitation. Food manufacturers sought efficient and economical ways, often including the addition of chemicals, to preserve food in ways that retarded bacterial growth. Distributors have been adding sodium benzoate to acidic food for over a century. Food packagers use benzoates like sodium benzoate and benzoic acid to preserve beverages, jams, pickled products, salads, cheeses, meats and margarine.
Nitrates
Nitrites, like sodium nitrite, add a pink hue to cured and packaged meat while acting as a preservative in fatty, salty foods. Without sodium nitrate, your hot dogs and bacon are an unappealing color of gray. The Center for Science in the Public Interest warns that, while the addition of sodium nitrates reduces the risk for botulism, adding this preservative to food leads to the formation of the cancer-causing chemicals nitrosamines.
Sulphites
Beverage producers add sulphites, like sulphur dioxide, in red wines and fruit juices. Sulphites are effective preservatives in dried fruits and other food products. Sorbates, including sodium sorbate and potassium sorbate, preserve bakery products, breads and cheeses.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants work to prevent food from changing color or getting dark spots. Food packagers use the antioxidants BHA and Vitamin C to preserve products. Antioxidants stop the molecular degradation of oxygenation. In other words, antioxidants stop sliced apples from turning brown. Manufacturers use BHA, or butylated hydroxyanisole, to prevent the fat in food from spoiling.
Natural
Natural substances in food act as preservatives. For example, lactobacilli ferments cabbage into sauerkraut and then acts to preserve the sauerkraut. Yeast cells ferment sugar to produce alcohol and then preserve the flavor and character of the beverage. Cooking and freezing food are forms of preservation in that they stop the natural degradation of food after harvest. Cooking food at high temperatures kills bacteria responsible for food spoilage. Commercial flash freezing equipment does a superior job preserving the color, texture and nutritive value of food, compared to home freezer units.
Member Comments