Original version

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

CrowdScience

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

CrowdScience: How can I keep fruit & veg fresh for longer?

Discussion & Talk

GettyImages-1219763280_crop.jpg

17/12/2021 GMT

How can I keep fruit & veg fresh for longer?

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, How can I keep fruit & veg fresh for longer?

The ancient preservation techniques that help prevent food waste

From fermentation to deep freezing, we investigate the science that can help us keep food for longer and hear about preservatives that could upset our gut flora and fauna.

As many of us gear up for the annual Christmas feast, some of you may be wondering how to eat everything before it goes off. It’s a great question, as the UN puts global food waste at a whopping 1.3 billion tonnes a year – that’s one third of all edible produce being thrown in the bin. 

So this week the team investigates listener Peter’s query about what makes some fruit and vegetables rot faster than others. Preserving food used to be about ensuring nomadic populations could keep moving without going hungry, but these days some things seem to have an almost indefinite shelf-life. Is it about better packaging or can clever chemistry help products stay better for longer? A Master Food Preserver explains how heat and cold help keep microbes at bay, and how fermentation encourages the growth of healthy bacteria which crowd out the ones that make us ill. 

Presenter Datshiane Navanayagam learns how to make a sauerkraut that could keep for weeks, and investigates the gases that food giants use to keep fruit and veg field-fresh. But as the industry searches for new techniques to stretch shelf-life even further could preservatives in food be affecting our microbiome? Research shows sulphites may be killing off ‘friendly’ gut bacteria linked to preventing conditions including cancer and Crohn’s disease.

Produced by Marijke Peters for BBC World Service.



Featuring:

Christina Ward, Master Food Preserver
Dr Heidy den Besten, Food Microbiologist, Wageningen University
Ian Shuttlewood, Tilbury Cold Store
Professor Sally Irwin, University of Hawaii

Accessibility links

Programme Index

CrowdScience

How can I keep fruit & veg fresh for longer?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

About BBC World Service