Food and Nutrition | Why Does The Smoking Of Meat Act As A Preservative?
Why does the smoking of meat act as a preservative?
Smoking meat (or any food) over a wood fire acts as a preservative because traces of formaldehyde emitted by burning wood halt the development of bacteria. In the process of preserving food, smoking is usually used in combination with salt curing (adding salt). Today, the primary purpose of smoking is to give food a smoked flavor.
Sources: Foods and Nutrition Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 2, p. 1855; Kendig, Frank, and Richard Hutton. Life-Spans, p. 112.
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