Question

What are food preservatives? Give an example.

Answer 1

Hint: Food preservatives are the types of substances when added to help in storage of food for a longer period of time.
In the word food preservative, preservative means to conserve or to keep it for a longer period. Food preservatives consist of various types of compounds that help to prevent the growth of microorganisms like fungi, yeast, bacteria in food. They are available naturally or can be created artificially.

Complete step-by-step answer:
They play a very important role in our day to day life like preventing the products from spoilage or contamination by microorganisms. Microorganisms damage the food by the process of fermentation, acidification, and decomposition.
Natural types of preservatives are available by nature like salt and alcohol. They can be made synthetically by chemicals. Some examples of artificial chemicals are sodium benzoate, sodium nitrate.
It’s just a myth that natural or organic are healthier but now it’s proven that artificial preservatives are much effective in smaller proportions and are not harmful to the body.
Contamination is in the form of change in food color, flavor or texture, it delays the rancidity i.e. spoilage of food, and eventually maintains freshness. Preservatives prevent or slow down all the types of spoilage mentioned above.
Examples of food preservatives are: salt, alcohol, sodium benzoate, sodium nitrate etc.

Note: Food preservatives are the substances that prevent or slow the growth of microorganisms like fungi and bacteria. They are natural as well as manmade. Examples of natural food preservatives are salt and alcohol and examples of artificial food preservatives are sodium benzoate and sodium nitrate.