Let’s say you hard boil an egg, disinfect a container, and put the egg in immediately after boiling (still in shell).
Several days later the egg will go bad, but why? Haven’t you already murdered the eggs microbes by boiling it, and the container’s microbes by disinfecting it?
Where does the bacteria or fungi come from to spoil the egg?
In: Biology
The world is full of bacteria and fungi. No matter how good and how quick you are at cleaning it and moving it to a sterile place, some bacteria and fungi will get in and grow. The only way to do it is to seal it in a container, and then heat it up to kill the bugs. That’s what we do with canning stuff – put the food in a can, seal it, then heat it up to kill everything inside.
The second thing is that some bacteria and fungi form robust spores. These spores can survive quite high temperatures, then revive later. It’s why most mass produced roods are acidic, salty or very sweet – they can’t heat up the food high enough to kill the spores without destroying the food, but as long as conditions aren’t favourable – acid, salt or not enough water – they spores don’t revive and don’t spoil the food.
Latest Answers