Any change is proportional to a "driving force", and in food preservation processes this "driving force" is today’s consumer demands. Consumers are demanding preserved foods which are free of chemical preservatives but with increasing microbiological safety ; foods which are convenient, with good shelf life, "fresh-like" appareance and good quality (organoleptical and nutritional properties), but on the other hand with minimal processing ; foods having complete and realistic nutritional information (nutritional labelling), etc.

To meet these demands is a difficult challengue for the food industry and trends in food preservation are orientated in that way.

Most food preservation techniques (dehydration, freezing, thermal treatment) are succesfull to inhibit or destroy pathogens and spoilage microorganisms, but they are not so good to keep overall food quality. Concentration and increasing food temperature during food processing are responsible of these changes. For these reason the so-called "cold" preservation methods, such as irradiation (low doses) and very high pressures are being applied with increasing success, mainly for post-packaging pasteurization of refrigerated foods. Also, combination processes (multi-hurdle technology) allow to control microbes but with a higher degree of retention of overal food quality.

Food industry is also exploring the use of natural antimicrobial substances to replace the usual "chemical" preservatives, and among substances most studied are, bacteriocins, oils and extracts of spices and other natural plants. etc.

Studies on the kinetics of nutrient deterioration in preserved foods during storage lead to the neccessary information to provide a better nutritional labelling in foods.

The use of the so-called "active packaging" is also helping to preserve foods with minimal changes in quality.