Food and Nutrition

Food Storage, Preservation & Packaging

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The term food preservation refers to any one of a number of techniques used to prevent food from spoiling. It includes methods such as canning, pickling, drying and freeze-drying, irradiation, pasteurization , smoking, and the addition of chemical additives. Food preservation has become an  increasingly important component of the food industry as fewer people eat foods produced on their own lands, and as consumers expect to be able to purchase and consume foods that are out of season. Dairy foods are also using forms of advanced packaging technologies to enhance shelf life. RyanFoods, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dean Foods that produces extended shelf life (ESL) fluid milk products, uses ESL processing and packaging to push back their "best before" dates. ESL processing and packaging employs ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurization.