INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCE RESEARCH
IN MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Food spoilage refers to “any sensory change (tactile, visual, olfactory or flavour)” which the consumer considers to be unacceptable. Spoilage may occur at any stage along food chain. Spoilage may arise from insect damage, physical damage, and indigenous enzyme activity in the animal or plant tissue or by microbial infections. Most natural foods have a limited life. Perishable foods such as fish, meat and bread have a short life span. Other food can be kept for a considerably longer time but decomposes eventually. Enzymes can bring about destruction of polymers in some foods while chemical reactions such as oxidation and rancidity decompose others but the main single cause of food spoilage is invasion by microorganisms such as moulds, yeast and bacteria. Food loss, from farm to fork, causes considerable environmental and economic effects.