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Advantages And Disadvantages Of Chemical Preservatives In The Food Industry

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XI. Common preservatives
Before human create preservative, our ancestors used dry, freeze, can, and pickle food to enhance the shelf time by stopping the microbes’ metabolism and activity, to prevent degradation by bacteria. Nowadays, chemical preservatives are being created and used in the food industry to delay spoilage, to maintain the texture and flavor of foods. The detailed mechanism of these chemical preservatives mainly is the inhibition on the growths of the bacteria or the inhibition on specific enzymes of the bacteria.
The most commonly used preservative in the food industry is lactic acid. It is not adequate to be a standard preservative but it is usually coupled with other chemicals as a part of the preservative method …show more content…

(Annalisa, L., Cristina, C., Amalia, C., Matteo, N., 2012) Besides, for the past few years, the disadvantages of artificial chemical preservatives have been emphasized and people have started to beware of them. The disadvantages include cancer risks and allergic consequences. As mentioned that sodium nitrate has a high probability to increase the incidences of cancer and it can cause potentially fatal allergies in some sensitive individuals. The reactions can be rashes, low blood pressure, diarrhea, flushing, abdominal pain, asthmatic reactions and anaphylactic shock. (Bruso, …show more content…

Before dilution, honey has a high sugar and low moisture content and it is the mechanism of honey to have an antimicrobial property. And honey after diluted, glucose oxidized to hydrogen peroxide by enzyme glucose oxidase. (Glucose -> Gluconic acid and H2O2) Hydrogen peroxide is an anti-infective agent and it used on destroy microorganisms or inhibit their activity. Besides, honey is acidic and the pH value is between 3.2 and 4.5. Common foodborne disease pathogen e.g. E. coli, salmonella, they cannot grow in the acidic environment. (Minimum pH value for growth: E. coli (4.3), salmonella (4.0)) (Manisha D. M., Shyamapada M.,

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