WAYS FOODS GET SPOILT
KEYWORDS: food, Texture, Temperature, Food poisoning, Mould.
we all love food- Food gives us the nutrients we need to grow strong and healthy. Some examples of foods are banana, bread, rice, milk, banku with soup and kenkey with pepper. Some of these foods can be eaten fresh or row. Foods such as rice, yam and meat need to be cooked before they can be eaten.
In this lesson, we shall learn about the ways foods get spoiled.
Food spoilage is when the smell, taste and texture of food changes and cannot be eaten.
Look at the pictures below.
Do you have any idea how these foods can get spoilt?
There are certain factors that cause foods go bad .
These factors include :
- Temperature
Foods get spoilt when they are not stored under the right temperature.
foods such as meat, fish, milk ,and vegetables must always be kept in the fridge.
This will prevent them from getting spoilt .
Foods such as maize ,beans and rice can be dried under the sun to prevent them from spoiling.
2 .Time
Foods that are kept for Q long time get spoilt.
Have you had a biscuit that has gone stale or soft instead of being crunchy before?
Some foods like biscuits get spoiled when they cre kept for a long time.
Most fruits also get spoiled when they are kept for a long time. This is why it is always advisable to buy only what you need at a time to avoid keeping them for a long time.
3.Foods that are not well cooked easily go bad.
When foods are not well cooked or fried, they easily go bad. Foods such as meat, chicken and fish must be fried well so that they can be kept for sometime. Fried foods that contain moisture con easily go bad.
4 Some foods get spoilt when they are exposed to air and light.
When fruits and vegetables ore left in the open for o long time, the water that keeps them fresh dries up. Fruits tike peor begin to shrink in size. Leafy foods tike lettuce ond cocoyam leaves
(kontomire) lose their green colour and begin to
Fresh turn yellow.
HOW WILL YOU TELL IF FOOD IS SPOILT?
You can tell if food is spoilt by observing the following:
1 . The appearance of the food
Before you any eat food you must look at the food carefully.
You Must check if there are any changes in the colour of the food.
For example, a bread will begin to grow mould when it goes bad.
spoilt bread
2 . The Taste of the foodÂ
To know if a food is spoilt, think about the original taste of the food when you take a bite. You need to throw it out immediately if it has an unusual taste. Example, milk will taste sour when it is spoilt.
3 . The Smell of the foodÂ
You will know if a food is spoilt by the smell. Some foods such as eggs, fishes and meats really give off bad and unpleasant smell when they go bad.
 4 .Texture
The texture or feel of some foods will let you know if they are spoilt or not. Fruits and vegetables shrink in size when they are spoilt.
Other foods like fried or steamed meat become slimy when spoilt.
what will happen if we eat spoilt foods?
1 . We are likely to fall sick when we eat spoilt foods.
2 . We may suffer from an ailment called food poisoning.
3 .We may experience other sicknesses such as Diarrhea, fever, stomach upset and vomiting when we eat spoilt foods.
we must make sure we eat foods that are washed, cooked and well preserved to stay healthy always.