Bio-Preservation and the Food Industry: An Overview

Abstract

The unending needs and demands for chemical free preservatives in food industry are on the increase due to the facts that diseases like cancer and complications from oxidative stress have been linked to the xenobiotics we eat in foods as preservatives. There is need for safe means of preserving our foods without side effects and that is why the world needs bio-preservative in all forms to augment both the nutritional properties and shelf life of food products. Bio-preservatives like bacteriocins produced from organisms with GRAS status, essential oils, vinegar, herbs/spices and sugar/salt reviewed in this work have shown credible antimicrobial properties against spoilage/food borne pathogenic and toxigenic microorganisms thus served as good bio-preservative agents suitable for a dispensation yearning for green solution areas of food improvement and preservation. This review provides an overview of the importance of bio-preservatives in food safety and nutritional augmentation needed in food industry as a whole.