Food storage
It is both a traditional domestic skill (mainly as root cellaring) and, in the form of food logistics, an important industrial and commercial activity.
Significant losses of food are caused by inadequate storage conditions as well as decisions made at earlier stages of the supply chain, which predispose products to a shorter shelf life.
It is also important to maintain proper kitchen hygiene, to reduce risks of bacteria or virus growth and food poisoning.
These safety guidelines are intended to reduce the growth of mold and bacteria and the threat of potentially-fatal food poisoning.
The percentage of polyunsaturated fat in some common cooking oils is: safflower (74%); sunflower (66%); corn (60%); soybean (37%); peanut (32%); canola (29%); olive (8%); coconut (5%).
These factors, and many others, affect the amount of time that a vegetable can be kept in dry storage, as well as the temperature needed to preserve its usefulness.
The following guideline shows the required dry storage conditions: Grain, which includes dry kitchen ingredients such as flour, rice, millet, couscous, cornmeal, and so on, can be stored in rigid sealed containers to prevent moisture contamination or insect or rodent infestation.
When spices or herbs are homegrown or bought in bulk, they can be stored at home in glass or plastic containers.
However, after 6 months to a year, spices and herbs will gradually lose their flavour as oils they contain will slowly evaporate during storage.
Herbs also can be stirred into a bowl with unsalted butter, then spread on wax paper and rolled into a cylinder shape.
The wax paper roll containing the butter and herbs is then stored in a freezer, and can be cut off in the desired amount for cooking.
[11] For example, dry ageing techniques are sometimes used to tenderize gourmet meats by hanging them in carefully controlled environments for up to 21 days, while game animals of various kinds may be hung after shooting.
[13] Semi-dried meats like salamis and country style hams are processed first with salt, smoke, sugar, acid, or other "cures" then hung in cool dry storage for extended periods, sometimes exceeding a year.
Some of the materials added during the curing of meats serve to reduce the risks of food poisoning from anaerobic bacteria such as species of Clostridium that release botulinum toxin that can cause botulism.
Guides for surviving emergency conditions in many parts of the world recommend maintaining a store of essential foods; typically water, cereals, oil, dried milk, and protein rich foods such as beans, lentils, tinned meat and fish.
An unvarying diet of staple foods prepared in the same manner can cause appetite exhaustion, leading to less caloric intake.
In the former Soviet Union, where harvest was poorly controlled, grain was often irradiated at the point of production to suppress mold and insects.
In the U.S., threshing and drying is performed in the field, and transport is nearly sterile and in large containers that effectively suppresses pest access, which eliminates the need for irradiation.
Before refrigerated rail cars, meat had to be transported live, and this placed its cost so high that only farmers and the wealthy could afford it every day.
