What Is Food Preparation?
Food preparation is defined as the actions undertaken to ensure food is safe for consumption or has the required flavor during its assembling process. Formally, food preparation refers to the process of acquiring raw ingredients and making them ready for consumption. Also, it entails any portioning, packaging, assembling, and processing that alters the form of food. Food preparation involves various techniques such as baking. This technique involves prolonged cooking through dry heating the food using an oven via convection. The blanching technique consists of preparing food by plunging it into boiling water and then injecting it after the timed intervals. Food preparation is a crucial activity among humans since it ensures the following:
- Separation of the inedible parts of the food from the edible parts. This is enhanced through peeling, shelling, and husking.
- The food is digestible, for example, through grinding, soaking, and pounding to ease the chewing process.
- Detoxification whereby some food is made safe for consumption, such as cassava and roots containing prussic acid, expelled by cooking and soaking.
Importance of Food Preparation
Food preparation is a key procedure that requires adequate attention, which involves diverse aspects. Also, food preparation deals with measuring the ingredients to be involved in its various stages to promote the smooth running of the process. The importance of food preparation includes:
- Prevention of food poisoning — Food poisoning takes place when toxins are available within the food under consumption. Food contamination may occur when the food has been prepared, handled, or stored incorrectly. Thus, the food preparation worker ensures food poisoning is eliminated by embracing numerous steps such as observing hand hygiene during cleaning and cooking. Also by cooking frozen foods within the recommended duration on their packages and refrigerating perishable foods. Food poisoning can cause dehydration and gastroenteritis.
- Prevention of food allergies — Food preparation prevents food allergies, for instance, by labeling the food and promoting awareness of the safe and the unsafe foods. For example, cow milk and soy milk may be labeled differently to eliminate confusion among those members who are allergic to a particular type. Also, food service preparation involves a plan whereby those with allergies to a specific meal are served separately to prevent an allergic reaction.
- Promotion of food quality — Food preparation fosters food quality by ensuring that individuals handle and consume safe food items. Hence, this eliminates the dangers of consuming contaminated foods.
