What exactly is a perservative? I know they preserve the food...obviously but WHAT is it?!
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A preservative is a naturally occurring or can be a synthetic substance that is added to foods to prevent decomposition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preservativ…
Lots of things can be called a preservative. Most of the time it's a type of salt. Even regular table salt, NaCl, preserves food which is why pretty much all meat and fish were salt cured back before refrigeration. Vinegar could be called a preservative, also raisins have a preservative effect. Rasin bread will take longer to mold than regular bread sometimes because of this.
Usually a chemical additive. Which one is used depends on the product and how long they want to preserve it. Anything from salt to unpronounceable things you wouldn't touch on their own.
preservative: means how long you can keep it Fresh