Food Poisoning and Food Preservation – Chemical Methods

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What is Food Poisoning?

Food poisoning is the ill effect on health caused by consumption of contaminated food. The food gets contaminated due to toxic secretions by microbes like:

• Bacteria
• Fungi
• Parasites
• Other Pathogens

These secretions bring about chemical changes in the food. Consumption of such contaminated food leads to various types of severe infections in the digestive system. This can be avoided by inhibiting the microbial growth or by killing these microbes.

What are the Chemical methods of food preservation?

• Commodities like salt, oil, and vinegar arrest the growth of microbes in the food. The microbes get killed even if they attack the
• Salt is widely used for food It is used in pickles, meat, and fishes. Salting of meat and fishes followed by drying them in the sun can preserve them for many months.
• Sugar is used as a preservative for jams and jellies. It makes them sweet and inhibits microbial
• Certain chemicals can be added to the food in order to preserve it. The most commonly used chemicals include Sodium benzoate and Sodium metabisulphite. These chemicals prevent the growth of microbes in foods like squashes, fruit juices, and fruit jams.

Summary