Preservative

A substance added to a product to slow spoilage caused by microorganisms or chemical change. Preservatives extend usable life by inhibiting deterioration rather than eliminating every cause of it.

Antimicrobial: An agent that kills microorganisms or inhibits their growth. Many preservatives slow spoilage by suppressing bacteria, yeasts, or molds.
Food preservation: Methods used to delay food spoilage and extend storage life. Food preservatives form one part of the wider set of preservation methods.
Pasteurization: A heat treatment that reduces harmful and spoilage microorganisms in foods and beverages. Unlike an added preservative, pasteurization controls microbes through a processing step.
Food safety: The practices and conditions that prevent food from causing illness or injury. Preservatives can help control organisms responsible for foodborne disease.
Food spoilage: The deterioration of food that makes it undesirable or unsuitable for consumption. Preservatives are used to delay this deterioration, though they cannot reverse it.
Water activity: A measure of water available for microbial growth and chemical reactions in a material. Reducing available water can make a product inhospitable to spoilage organisms.
Sodium benzoate: A benzoic acid salt used as an antimicrobial preservative, especially in acidic products. It is a common example of a preservative whose activity depends on low pH.
Sterilization: A process that destroys or removes all forms of microbial life from a material. Preservatives generally inhibit deterioration without achieving sterilization.
Acceptable daily intake: An estimate of the amount of a substance that can be consumed daily over a lifetime without appreciable health risk. Regulators use exposure limits to assess the safety of permitted preservatives.
Microorganism: An organism too small to be seen clearly without a microscope. Bacteria, yeasts, and molds are major biological causes of spoilage.

Linked from 12 pages