FOOD PRODUCTION AND STORAGE IN BIOLOGY
Food production is said to be the process of processing food items and making them available for man. In order to make food available for man, food production can be improvised in a number of ways. Food production and storage in biology.
- Crop improvement methods.
- Proper timing of planting
- Adoption of better cultivation
- Use of manure and fertilizers
- Control of pest, diseases, and reeds
- Use of resistant varieties.
CAUSES OF FOOD WASTAGES.
Some causes of food wastage are as follows:
- Poor storage facilities
- Damage caused by pest and disease
- Inadequate transport facilities
- Natural disasters
- Inadequate processing facilities
- Bush burning
- Late harvesting.
Methods of Preserving and Storing Food.
- Salting:– This is the dusting of farm products with table salt. Farm products can be stored or preserved by salting including meat, fish, etc.
- Freezing / Refrigeration. This involves the use of cold storage facilities like refrigerators and deep freezers to store or preserve certain food such as meat, fish vegetable, fruits, etc.
- Drying/sun drying. This involves the drying of some crops or products using the heat from the sun. Products that can be dried by the sun include fish, meat, groundnut, yam, chips, plantain chips, etc.
- Canning:- in canning, the raw food is first cleaned and prepared carefully followed by an airtight container. After which the containers are heated to high temperatures for a given period of time. Simply put – canning is the storage of processed and consumable food in cans or bottles under special conditions for further consumption. Examples of food items preserved by this method are meat, fish, beans, etc.
- Smoking:- it involves the drying of some farm products over the smoke of a naked fire. Food preserved by smoking including – meat, fish, maize, okro. Et.c
EVALUATION TEST
- Define food production
- State four causes of food wastage
- List four methods used in preserving food.
