Food spoilage

Food spoilage is the process whereby food becomes unsuitable to ingest by a person; it is a matter of food safety. Bacteria and various fungi are the causes of spoilage, and can create serious consequences for consumers, but there are preventive measures that can be taken. The precise cause of the process is due to many outside factors as a side-effect of the type of product it is, as well as how the product is packaged and stored.

Food spoilage is the reason for food preservation, to extend shelf life. Meat is processed, food is frozen, and food is canned. Due to spoilage, one-third of the world's food produced for human consumption is lost every year.^[1]