Biochemistry of Food Spoilage

Biochemistry of Food Spoilage

What is spoilage?

Every food item that we eat is biological in origin, i.e. it comes from living organisms, thus it is bound to contain proteins , carbohydrates and fats and several metabolic activities would be carried out in them with the help of enzymes. These carbohydrates, fats and proteins are a source of energy. Since every living organism requires energy for survival, we consume food for procuring energy and similarly even microorganisms require energy, thus food becomes the target for the growth of some microorganisms. Food spoilage means the original nutritional value, texture, flavour of the food are damaged, the food becomes harmful to people and unsuitable to consume.

Various microorganisms may cause changes in the character of food, which may be classed as "positive" or "negative". Products of "positive" microbial transformations include cheese, yoghurt, and wine, which can be seen as increasing the nutritional value. "Negative" aspects of microbial growth include food deterioration and spoilage by decay, and food poisoning, mainly caused by different and less widespread bacteria. As they grow, micro-organisms release their own enzymes into the liquid surrounding them, and absorb the products of external digestion. This is the main basis of microbial food spoilage, which lowers the nutritional value of the medium they are growing in. Bacteria and moulds may also produce waste products which act as poisons or toxins, thus causing the renowned ill-effects.

Factors of Food spoilage:

Nutrients in food, their kind and proportions determine the type of organism that will grow. Also, microorganisms vary in their ability to use nutrients. The presence of easily utilizable nutrients will encourage faster growth and quicker damage. For example, a food with easily utilizable sugars will allow better growth than one which contains polysaccharides. Most foods contain enough peptides and amino acids that they can meet the...