The quality offoodcan be adversely affected by physical, chemical, biochemicaland microbiologicalprocesses.
Quality deteriorationcaused bymicroorganisms may include a wide range oftypes of spoilage thatare
undesirable commercially, because they limit shelf life or leadtoquality complaints, but are safe from a public health
pointof view. More seriously, the presence orgrowthof infectiousortoxinogenicmicroorganisms (foodborne
pathogens) representthe worstforms of qualitydeterioration, because theythreatenthe health of the consumer . Therefore, while the aimof effective food preservationis tocontrol all forms ofquality deterioration, the overriding priority is always to minimize the potential for the occurrence and growth offoodspoilageandfood poisoningmicroorganisms.