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How to avoid food crisis
1) Improve agriculture
2) Improve the technology used in agriculture
3) Using GMO

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The salt somehow can absorb water. This process is called "Osmosis pressure".

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Today I found out why salt preserves meat.

While today salting meat as a method of preservation is generally only commonly used in such things as salted pork and the like, salt has been used as the primary method of preserving meats and various other foods as far back as history records.

Salt has a preservative effect thanks to the osmotic pressure it creates via absorption. For example, if you take a red blood cell and place it in water, thanks to osmotic pressure and the fact that the cell membrane is thin and semipermeable, the cell with its relatively salty interior next to the pure water will gradually absorb more and more water until it explodes.

On the flipside, if you place that same red blood cell into water that is saltier than the cell's interior liquid, the reverse will happen and the cell will gradually lose water, shriveling up in the process. Place it in water that has the same sodium level as the cell, and nothing at all will happen.

This same effect will happen with most mold and microbes. So if you use the salt for its absorption effect to increase the osmotic pressure, these things that may spoil the meat will have trouble surviving and reproducing as their moisture is sucked from them. The more salt added to the item (or sugar, which has the same effect and is often used to help get around the strong salt flavor), the longer the preservative effect will last.

You can also observe this absorption effect simply by taking some cotton candy and placing it in a humid environment. With just 33% relative humidity, cotton candy left out in the air will completely collapse and crystallize in just 3 days as it absorbs the moisture in the air. At 45% relative humidity, it will completely collapse in just one day. At 75% humidity, it takes just 1 hour. This is why it has only been since 1972 that non-"made on demand" cotton candy has been available. (1972 was when the first fully automated cotton candy machine was invented that could make the fluffy treat and quickly package it in water tight containers).

If you're wondering how to salt meat for preservation, the process is fairly simple and straightforward, though there are a variety of variations on the basic method used to improve flavor. In general, you simply rinse the fresh meat in cold or lukewarm water, then pour a thin layer of salt (generally kosher salt) all over the meat and rub it in. Next, hang or set the meat out in a cool environment (under 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but not below freezing) for a couple weeks to dry it out a bit. Finally, before cooking the meat, rinse off the salt with water.

In theory, if you use enough salt or sugar when doing this, you can even preserve meat for decades, though of course the amount you'd have to use would probably make it unpalatable. At the minimum, if you're only using salt or sugar with no other preservative method like smoking or the like, it's generally considered that about a 20% salt concentration on the surface of the meat is needed to kill off most types of microbes and fungi that can spoil food quickly.

If you liked this article and the Bonus Facts below, you might also like:

Bonus Facts:

In the 18th century, salted beef or horse meat (usually low quality) eaten on sailing vessels as part of daily rations was called "salt junk" or just "junk", making it technically the first food item called "junk food". Around a century later "junk" had spread to refer to anything of low quality, though it wouldn't be until around the 1970s that people would commonly start calling certain food items low in nutritional value "junk food".

Pickling meat and other items usually uses a salt/acidic method to achieve preservative effects, often using some sort of vinegar for the acidic element, which further creates an environment that most microbes and fungi have trouble surviving in. The most popular commercially available item that still uses this technique is pickles. This is usually done by first soaking cucumbers in a salt water brine (generally about 10% salt) for a few days, then rinsing the cucumbers off with purified water. Next, placing the cucumbers in vinegar and sealing them in airtight jars.

Another common old method to preserve meats, referenced in the salting method above, is simply to get rid of the water by dehydrating the foods, classically trying to get rid of about 10%-50% of the moisture in the meat, balancing preservative effect with flavor.

Sugar is not just useful for its absorption effect as a preservative, but also because in low enough doses, it can encourage the growth of "good" microbes that can stop some types of bacteria that can make you sick from growing.

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Today I found out why salt preserves meat. While today salting meat as a method of preservation is generally only commonly used in such things as salted pork and the like, salt has been used as the primary method of preserving meats and various other foods as far back as history records.

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Whether you're thinking about food preservation for disaster preparedness or just want your regular groceries to last longer, here are ten food preservation methods. Visit Us Elsewhere: http://www.thesurvivalcamp.net https://www.facebook.com/The-Survival... http://thesurvivalcamp.tumblr.com/

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Drying  Main article: Drying (food)Drying is one of the oldest techniques used to hamper the decomposition of food products. As early as 12,000 B.C., Middle Eastern and Oriental cultures were drying foods using the power of the sun. Vegetables and fruit are naturally dried by the sun and wind, but "still houses" were built in areas that did not have enough sunlight to dry things. A fire would be built inside the building to provide the heat to dry the various fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

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Drying  Main article: Drying (food)Drying is one of the oldest techniques used to hamper the decomposition of food products. As early as 12,000 B.C., Middle Eastern and Oriental cultures were drying foods using the power of the sun. Vegetables and fruit are naturally dried by the sun and wind, but "still houses" were built in areas that did not have enough sunlight to dry things. A fire would be built inside the building to provide the heat to dry the various fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

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Food preservation is the process of treating and handling food to stop or slow down food spoilage, loss of quality, edibility, or nutritional value and thus allow for longer food storage.

Preservation usually involves preventing the growth of bacteria, fungi (such as yeasts), and other microorganisms, as well as retarding the oxidation of fats which cause rancidity.

Methods of Food Preservation

A number of methods of prevention can be used that can either totally prevent, delay, or otherwise reduce food spoilage. Preservatives can expand the shelf life of food and can lengthen the time long enough for it to be harvested, processed, sold, and kept in the consumer's home for a reasonable length of time.

Maintaining or creating nutritional value, texture and flavor is an important aspect of food preservation, although, historically, some methods drastically altered the character of the food being preserved. In many cases these changes have now come to be seen as desirable qualities, as with cheese, yogurt, and pickled onions.

Drying is one of the most ancient food preservation techniques, which reduces water activity sufficiently to prevent bacterial growth.

Refrigeration preserves food by slowing down the growth and reproduction of microorganisms and the action of enzymes which cause food to rot.

Freezing is also one of the most commonly used processes for preserving a very wide range of food including prepared foodstuffs which would not have required freezing in their unprepared state.

Vacuum-packing stores food in a vacuum environment, usually in an air-tight bag or bottle. The vacuum environment strips bacteria of oxygen needed for survival, thereby slowing spoiling. Vacuum-packing is commonly used for storing nuts to reduce the loss of flavor from oxidation.

Salting or curing draws moisture from the meat through a process of osmosis. Meat is cured with salt or sugar, or a combination of the two. Nitrates and nitrites are also often used to cure meat and contribute to the characteristic pink color, as well as inhibition of Clostridium botulinum.

Sugar is used to preserve fruits, either in syrup with fruit such as apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, or in crystallized form where the preserved material is cooked in sugar to the point of crystallisation and the resultant product is then stored dry. This method is used for the skins of citrus fruit (candied peel), angelica, and ginger. A modification of this process produces glacé fruit such as glacé cherries where the fruit is preserved in sugar but is then extracted from the syrup and sold, the preservation being maintained by the sugar content of the fruit and the superficial coating of syrup. The use of sugar is often combined with alcohol for preservation of luxury products such as fruit in brandy or other spirits. These should not be confused with fruit flavored spirits such as cherry brandy.

Smoking is used to lengthen the shelf life of perishable food items. This effect is achieved by exposing the food to smoke from burning plant materials such as wood. Most commonly subjected to this method of food preservation are meats and fish that have undergone curing. Fruits and vegetables like paprika, cheeses, spices, and ingredients for making drinks such as malt and tea leaves are also smoked, but mainly for cooking or flavoring them. It is one of the oldest food preservation methods, which probably arose after the development of cooking with fire.

Preservative food additives can be antimicrobial. These inhibit the growth of bacteria or fungi, including mold, or antioxidant, such as oxygen absorbers, which inhibit the oxidation of food constituents. Common antimicrobial preservatives include calcium propionate, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sulfites (sulfur dioxide, sodium bisulfite, potassium hydrogen sulfite, etc.), and disodium EDTA. Antioxidants include BHA and BHT. Other preservatives include formaldehyde (usually in solution), glutaraldehyde (kills insects), ethanol, and methylchloroisothiazolinone.

Pickling is a method of preserving food in an edible anti-microbial liquid. Pickling can be broadly categorized into two categories: chemical pickling and fermentation pickling.

Canning involves cooking food, sealing it in sterile cans or jars, and boiling the containers to kill or weaken any remaining bacteria as a form of sterilization . Foods have varying degrees of natural protection against spoilage and may require that the final step occur in a pressure cooker. High-acid fruits like strawberries require no preservatives to can and only a short boiling cycle, whereas marginal fruits such as tomatoes require longer boiling and addition of other acidic elements. Low acid foods, such as vegetables and meats require pressure canning. Food preserved by canning or bottling is at immediate risk of spoilage once the can or bottle has been opened.

Preserved FoodCanning food is one method of food preservation.

Other forms of preservation can include: jellying, jugging, irradiation, pulsed electric field processing, modified atmosphere, high pressure, burial in the ground, and biopreservation.

Source: Boundless. “Food Preservation.” Boundless Microbiology. Boundless, 26 May. 2016. Retrieved 30 Aug. 2016 from https://www.boundless.com/microbiology/textbooks/boundless-microbiology-textbook/industrial-microbiology-17/food-preservation-202/food-preservation-1016-7700/

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Decay is helps to digest food and recycle materials. Bacteria and fungi are main groups of decomposers. They release enzyme to break down compound so they can absorb nutrients.  Thus preservation to remove conditions needed for decay

What factor affect decay?
- Temperature
- Oxygen
- Water

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Food preservation involves preventing the growth of bacteria, fungi (such as yeasts), or other micro-organisms (although some methods work by introducing benign bacteria or fungi to the food), as well as slowing the oxidation of fats that cause rancidity.