What is the art of prolonging the life of the food items that are available

Food preservation.

Explanation:

Food preservation can be defined as an art that typically deals with the process of preventing food spoilage by reducing or mitigating the growth of microorganisms and other external factors while maintaining the nutritional value, flavor and texture of the food.

Some of the factors that causes food spoilage include microorganisms (bacteria, yeast and molds), temperature, moisture content, oxidation etc.

Hence, food preservation is the art of prolonging the life of the food items that are available.

Basically, there are physical, chemical and biological methods which can be used to prolong the life of food items and thus sustaining the edibility and nutritional value of foods. These methods are;

1. Freezing.

2. Pasteurization.

3. Drying.

4. Retorting.

5. Thermal sterilization.

6. Fermentation.

7. Irradiation.