INTRODUCTION Growth of microorganisms in a food material can be inhibited by adding certain chemical substances. However the chemical substances should not be harmful to the human beings. Then what should we add? “PRESERVATIVES”. Preservatives are natural or man-made chemicals that are added to foods to stop them from spoiling. Many packaged foods we buy need a preserving agent to keep them from going ‘off’ and to protect us against food- borne illnesses (food poisoning), which is why these preservatives are used.CAN PRESERVATIVES BE NATURAL OR EASY? We actually ‘preserve’ fresh = foods ourselves = every day, by storing | foods in the fridge or freezer. Smoking fish or meats over burning wood or coal are also methods of °= preservat Natural preservatives that can be added to foods include salt and sugar. CHEMICAL METHODS:- Other preservatives that are commonly used in foods in small amounts include sorbates, which can be identified by the additive numbers 200- 203, benzoates (210-218), sulphites (220-228) and propionates (280-283). Some nitrites (24fi-250) are also classified as preservatives. n our country, two chemical preservatives which are permitted for use are: 1. Benzoic acid(or sodium benzoate) we SODIUM BENZOATE — your eed Neca longer ] Remar 2. Sulphur dioxide(or potassium bisulphite) Benzoic acid or its sodium salt, sodium benzoate is commonly used for the preservation of food materials. For the preservation of fruits, fruit juices, squashes and jams sodium benzoate is used as preservative because it is soluble in water and hence easily mixes with the food product.Potassium bisulphite is used for the preservation of colourless food materials such as fruit juices, squashes, apples and raw mango chutney. This is not used for preserving coloured food materials because Sulphur dioxide produced from this chemical is a bleaching powder. Potassium bisulphite on reaction with acid of the juice liberates Sulphur dioxide which is very effective in killing the harmful micro- organisms present in food and thus prevents it from getting spoiled. H + HSO, — SO, + H.O The advantage of this method is that no harmful chemical is left in the food.Il. At different concentrations and Ill. For different intervals of time. Materials |. Beaker, pestle and mortar, glass bottles, balance and peeler. Il. Fresh fruits, potassium bisulphite and sugar. Theory Food materials undergo natural changes due to temperature, time and enzymatic action and become unfit for consumption. These changes may be checked by adding small amounts of potassium bisulphite. The effectiveness of KHSO3 as preservative depends upon its concentration under different conditions which may be determined experimentally. Procedure 1. Take fresh fruits, wash them thoroughly with water and peel off their outer cover.2. Grind it to a paste in the mortar with a pestle. 3. Mix with sugar and colouring matter. 4. The material so obtained is fruit jam. It may be used to study the effect of concentration of sugar and KHSO3, temperature and time. (A) Effect of concentration of Sugar: - 1. Take three wide mouthed reagent bottles labeled as A,B,C. 2. Put 100 gms of fruit jam in each bottle. 3. Add 5.0 gms, 10.0 gms and 15.0 gms of sugar to each bottle respectively. 4. Add 0.5 gm of KHSO3 to each bottle. 5. Mix contents thoroughly with a stirring rod. 6. Close the bottle and allow them to stand for one week or 10 days at room temperature. 7. Observe the changes taking place in Jam every day.Observation Bottle | A B ¢ number weight of 100gm 100gm 100gm the jam taken Weight of 5gm 10gm 15gm the sugar added Weight of 0.5gm 0.5gm 0.5gm KHSO3 A B c Colour Dark Dark Dark orange _|orange _| orange Odour Pleasant | Pleasant | Pleasant smell smell smell DAY 1 Fungus |Fungus /|Fungus | Fungus not | not not formed formed formed Colour Dark Orange Light | orange orange Odour Pleasant | Pleasant | Pleasant smell smell smell Fungus Fungus Fungus Fungus notDAY 2 hot not formed formed |formed | Colour Dark Orange | Light orange orange Odour Pleasant |Pungent |Pungent DAY 3 smell smell smell Fungus Fungus — | White White not fungus is | fungus is formed |formed | formed more in C Colour Orange Light Light orange _| orange Odour Pungent |Pungent | Pungent smell smell smell Fungus White White Fungus. DAY 4 fungus is | fungus turned into formed has greenish increased | colour Colour Dark Light Yellow orange _|orange _| colour Odour Pungent |Pungent | Smells smell smell ethanolicDAY 5 | Fungus White Fungus Greenish fungus turned colour has into fungus has. increased | greenish | increased colour DAY 6 | Colour Light Yellow Yellow orange colour colour fades Odour Smells Smells smells ethanolic | ethanolic | ethanolic Fungus Fungus Greenish | Fungus turned colour turned into into fungus black greenish | has colour colour increased Colour Yellow Yellow Yellow colour colour colour DAY 7 fades fades Odour Smells Smells smells ethanolic | ethanolic | ethanolic Fungus Greenish | Fungus Spoilt colour turned entirely fungus into black colour(C) Effect of Temperature 1. Take 100 gm of Jam in three bottles labelled as A,B,C. 2. Add 10.0 gm of sugar and 1.0 gm of KHSO3 to each bottle. 3. Mix the contents thoroughly with a stirring rod. 4. Keep bottle No. | in the refrigerator at 0°C, bottle No. Il at room temperature (25°C) and bottle No. Ill in a thermostat at 50°C. Observe the changes taking place in the jam for 10 days. Result: The increase in Temperature causes fast fermentation of jam. Bottl | Wt. of the jam | Wt. of the | Wt. of KHSO3 eno |taken sugar A 100gms 5gms igms B 100gms 10gms lgms c 100gms i5gms lgmsObservation(days) 1 2 3 4 3 no no no No no no no no no fermented no no fermented | fermente |More d fermentatio n (D) Effect of time: - 1. Take three bottles and label them as I, Il and 2. To each bottle add 25 g of Jam and 1 g of potassium bisulphite. 3. Keep bottle A for 7 days, bottle B for 14 days and bottle C for 21 days at room temperature. 4. Note the changes taking place in each bottle and record the observations. Bottle no Observation(days) ; | 7 14 21 A NO +e = B NO | Taste changes + Cc NO NO Unpleasant smell.