Chapter 1 - Introduction

Abstract

The term “food preservation and safety” has been used over time to mean different things. In the various chapters of this book, particular focus was placed on food spoilage by microorganisms as a major threat to food preservation and safety. Chapter 2 discusses the interactive behavior of food spoilage microorganisms that contribute to their growth and spoilage ability. It also seeks to report necessary information that will enhance understanding of basic concepts related to microbial spoilage of food, ecology, interactions, and the role of microorganisms in food spoilage. Chapter 3 focuses on the sources of microbial contamination and major foodborne pathogens and their clinical features. Chapter 4 discusses various conventional and novel rapid methods for detecting, isolating, and enumeration of foodborne and spoilage microorganisms. Chapter 5 presents traditional preservation and progress in preservation science and highlights the major conventional preservation techniques as well as synthetic chemical preservatives commonly used in food preservation. Chapter 6 reviews natural products as a reliable source of promising food preservatives, emphasizing antimicrobial and antioxidant plant and microbial compounds. Furthermore, it highlights the safety of natural products and the various mechanisms of action as food preservatives. Chapter 7 presents several encapsulation methods that have been highlighted, and their role in the encapsulation of natural products for food application has been detailed. In Chapter 8, some of the emerging technologies employed in food preservation and safety and quality maintenance are discussed. The use of natural active components in smart food packaging systems is discussed in Chapter 9, while Chapter 10 elaborates on natural polymers as food packaging materials. The concept of biocontrol is then explored. Chapter 11, Chapter 12, and Chapter 13 present lactic acid bacteria and bacteriocins as biopreservatives, bacteriophage as a potential biocontrol agent, and antimicrobial peptides in food preservation, respectively. Chapters 14 and 15 discuss natural polymers and hydrocolloid applications in food and natural products as functional food. In Chapter 16, legislations on the use of natural products are presented, while Chapter 17 focuses on the valorization of natural industrial agro-food byproducts, and in Chapter 18, nanotechnology, and nanomaterial delivery in the food system are elaborated.