Why food spoilage

Improperly packaged foods, dented cans and broken packages provide places for microorganisms, air, light and creatures to enter. Gentle handling of food items will help maintain food quality and safety longer. Temperature affects storage time, and food deteriorates faster at higher temperatures.

Recommended temperatures for storage areas are:. Microorganisms, both spoilage and pathogenic, grow rapidly at room temperature. To slow microbial growth, the enzymatic and oxidation processes, store foods at lower temperatures.

Read more about microorganisms and temperatures. Microorganisms need time to grow and multiply. Other reactions, such as oxidation and enzyme action, also require time to develop. Nearly , tons of food is thrown away in households every day in the US alone. This could measure up to a third of the calories that Americans consume. Out of all types of food, fruit and vegetables are the most likely to be thrown away.

While there are certainly things one can do to combat this in our own households, a bigger issue is arising. Food spoilage: why is it a problem? What is food spoilage? What causes food spoilage? What can we do about food waste? Author name. Get started now! Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter. More articles. Over 10 million euros of funding, 50 hires, and a pandemic later, the vision lives. This is the story of global supply chains becoming transparent, sustainable, and efficient.

This is how every product comes to tell its story. Covid quick tests produced in Asia are carried via air freight from their production facilities to be used in Europe. The deliveries are secured with the Internet-of-Things monitoring solution by Finnish Logmore. If the food is cooked very soon after cutting, the enzymes are destroyed by heat and the browning does not occur. For example, apples are prone to discolouration if cut open when raw, but when cooked they do not go brown. Spoiled food is generally more a problem of appearance than a problem of disease causing.

In food spoilage, the changes in appearance or texture of the food, such as rottenness, softness and change in colour, taste or odour are usually obvious, whereas in contaminated food such characteristics may not be noticed. A large majority of the microorganisms responsible for food spoilage are not pathogenic to humans. However, you should advise people in your community that they should not eat food that is spoiled because it is not nutritious and may make them sick cause vomiting.

Finally, we turn to the factors that can increase or delay the process of food spoilage. They include its water content, environmental conditions, packaging and storage. The amount of water available in a food can be described in terms of the water activity a w.

The water activity of most fresh foods is 0. This means that they have a very high water content and can support a lot of microbial growth. Meat is traditionally dried by adding table salt to it. Can you suggest why salting enables the meat to be stored for a long time? You will learn more about salting, smoking, refrigeration and other food preservation methods in Study Session The salt draws out water from the meat so the a W is reduced.

This makes the conditions too dry for harmful microorganisms to multiply in the salted meat. No matter whether food is fresh or processed, the rate of its deterioration or spoilage is influenced by the environment to which it is exposed. Changing the environment can help to delay spoilage. For example, storing foods at low temperatures reduces spoilage because both microbial and enzymic decay is faster at higher temperatures.

Packaging is a means of safeguarding food when it is raw, or after it has been processed or prepared. It helps to protect food against harmful contaminants in the environment or conditions that promote food spoilage including light, oxygen and moisture.

The type of packaging is a key factor in ensuring that the food is protected. Packaging of foods in cans, jars, cartons, plastics or paper also serves to ensure food safety if it is intact, because it provides protection against the entry of microorganisms, dust, dirt, insects, chemicals and foreign material.

Now that you have completed this study session, you can assess how well you have achieved its Learning Outcomes by answering these questions. You can check your answers with the Notes on the Self-Assessment Questions at the end of this Module.

The entry and development or multiplication of infectious agents in the body of humans or other animals. Transfer of harmful microorganisms or their microscopic stages eggs, larvae from one source to another. Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter. You are asked by a school head teacher to explain to some students about food contamination by microorganisms. Write a plan of what you will tell them, including explaining why microorganisms are dangerous and under what conditions they grow and multiply.

Suppose you went to a village for a house visit and found complaints of foodborne illness among the villagers. What possible ways of food contamination do you suspect and how will you teach the villagers about them? You might suspect that the food handlers who prepare and serve food have been infected and have transmitted the infection through food to healthy people.

The food might have become contaminated with chemicals like pesticides during transport, storage and preparation, or there may have been accidental or deliberate chemical contamination of food items. Hence you should tell them how they can prevent their foods from any contamination by avoiding cross-contamination, using correct food storage practice, frequent handwashing by food handlers, thorough cooking, separating raw food from cooked food, and avoiding coughing and sneezing over food.

The two peppers look different because one has been spoiled by enzyme reactions, which have also allowed moulds to grow on the fruit. Enzymes are important to the normal functioning of living cells, but after the pepper is harvested and stored autolytic enzymes begin to spoil it.

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Printable page generated Friday, 12 Nov , Use 'Print preview' to check the number of pages and printer settings. Print functionality varies between browsers. Printable page generated Friday, 12 Nov , Food Contamination and Spoilage. Hygiene and Environmental Health Module: 8. Food Contamination and Spoilage Study Session 8 Food Contamination and Spoilage Introduction All food should be safe and free from contamination and spoilage at all points in its journey from its source until it reaches the consumers.

Learning Outcomes for Study Session 8 When you have studied this session, you should be able to: 8. Temperature Different microorganisms grow over a wide range of temperatures. Humidity The humidity of the storage environment is an important factor for the growth of microorganisms at the food surfaces. Oxygen Many microorganisms need oxygen in order to develop and reproduce: these are called aerobic microorganisms. Moisture content water activity, a w Microorganisms need a moist environment to grow in.

Figure 8. Photo: Basiro Davey. Nutrient content In order to grow, multiply and function normally, microorganisms require a range of nutrients such as nitrogen, vitamins and minerals. Structure of food items The natural covering of some foods provides excellent protection against the entry and subsequent damage by spoilage organisms. View larger image. Spoilage occurs from natural decay due to bacterial growth, which slowly breaks down the food. Sometimes the growth is apparent on the surface, causing discoloration and a slimy substance.

Foods that experience soft rot become mushy as a byproduct of enzymatic deterioration. While natural decay can only be elongated and not prevented, restaurants can slow the spread of bacteria through proper storage. Aside from keeping food and beverages at optimal temperatures until preparation, leftovers should be sealed in air-tight containers and kept in cool storage.

Restaurants can also practice dehydration and canning to further reduce food spoilage. This means that restaurants have a significant margin of food waste that they can work on reducing. The most common causes of food waste in the restaurant industry include-. Without proper inventory management, restaurants can overstock products, resulting in excessive food waste.

To prevent overordering, businesses should implement inventory tracking software to monitor ingredient usage. This enables managers to finetune their ordering strategies to save money on purchase orders and minimize food spoilage.

Even while maintaining healthy stock levels, restaurants can experience food spoilage if they do not practice the proper precautions.

Managers should inspect deliveries before signing off to ensure that food isn't damaged or already expired. Restaurants can also use the first in, first out FIFO method to ensure the oldest ingredients are used before the newest to avoid spoilage. Overproduction is another significant source of food waste. If cooks overestimate the demand for specific dishes, prepared food can only be saved for so long before it must be discarded.

Therefore, owners should review reports from their inventory systems to determine customer demand and sales trends.