2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Food spoilage is caused by small invisible organisms called bacteria. Bacteria are everywhere we go, and most of them do us no harm. In fact, many of them are useful to us.
What do bacteria like?
While living organisms can move, bacteria are quite boring. First, they cannot move. The only time they go somewhere is when someone moves them. Otherwise, they stay exactly where they are. If they are lucky, they can eat, and if they are really lucky, they will multiply. This happens by dividing into two, and each subsequent one into two more, and so on indefinitely. Unfortunately, the longer this lasts, the more spoiled our food becomes, because that's what they live on - our food.
This is especially true for foods high in protein such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products. Of course, some of them will choose foods low in protein such as fruits and vegetables, in which case the spoilage of the food will be much slower. That's why an apple left on the kitchen counter for a few days will still be safe to eat, while a steak obviously won't be.
Spoiled food versus dangerous food
Photo: Shutterbug75 / pixabay.com
It is important to note that spoiled food is not necessarily dangerous food. First, most people will not eat food that smells bad, looks slimy or anything like that. And you can't get food poisoning from something you haven't eaten. In addition, the microorganisms that cause the usual spoilage of food, are not necessarily harmful to us.
In fact, centuries before refrigerators, the earliest sauces and condiments were used to mask the "excluded" tastes and smells of food that had begun to spoil. This continues to apply in parts of the world where people do not have home refrigeration systems.
Bacteriawhich we deal with from the point of view of food safety are the so-called " pathogens"and which cause food poisoning. And these pathogens such as salmonella or E. coli do not cause any odors, unpleasant tastes or changes in the appearance of food - such as a slimy surface or any discoloration.
In addition to food, bacteria have several other requirements to live. One is the existence of oxygen. The other condition is the temperature. Bacteria still multiply at low temperatures, they just do it much more slowly. At freezing temperatures, the growth of bacteria slows down to almost zero. However, freezing does not kill them - all it does is cool them.
Once you thaw this food, be careful! All the bacteria that were there before freezing will just warm up and start multiplying again - in retaliation.
Like all living organisms, bacteria need water to survive. Foods high in moisture such as meat, poultry, seafood and dairy products, as well as fruits and vegetables, are an excellent breeding ground for harmful bacteria. Low-moisture foods, including dried cereals and legumes such as rice or beans, are usually stored for a very long time without spoiling or containing bacteria.
Another aspect of the moisture factor is that through a process called osmosis, sugar and salt actually suck the moisture out of the bacteria, effectively killing them through dehydration. As a result of the high salt and / or sugar content, foods tend to be preserved, which is why salt and sugar are used in the preparation of brine and the hardening of the meat.
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