Without this ability to transfer things in and out of their cells, microbes cannot multiply. Microbes need water to pass the food they need into their cells and to push toxins out. Drying is effective because in low-water environments microbial growth is inhibited. Instead, preservation techniques focus on limiting the growth of microbes. It is almost impossible to completely remove pathogens from food without also destroying the food itself. Sulu says that drying is the most effective, followed by salting, while storing in air-tight containers is not enough on its own. All are attempts to limit microbial growth, and have been used with greater or lesser success for millennia in various forms. Food can be preserved by drying, salting, chilling or storing in air-tight containers.

“Most foods, not all, spoil for the same reason – because of the growth of microbes,” says Michael Sulu, an expert in food chemistry at University College London, in the UK. Should humanity face a similar crisis, whether a nuclear apocalypse or worldwide war, which foods might be safe for the survivors to eat, and how long will those foods last? To understand that, we need to ask what makes food go off. The two ways that Western civilisation could collapse.The bleak, chilling magazine for nuclear doomsday preppers.When the Red Army of the Soviet Union finally managed to lift the siege on 18 January 1943, almost two and a half years after it began, the seed bank was still intact. They feared desperate people would storm the gene bank and eat their way through their life’s work, or invading forces would destroy the building to prevent its contents being used. Should any of the archived plant species become extinct in the outside world, these seeds, grains and tubers could be used to reintroduce them.Įven in their emaciated condition, the botanists at the institute defended the stores with their lives. The Institute of Plant Industry’s gene bank in Leningrad was and remains the largest collection of seeds in the world: the most comprehensive catalogue of plants’ genetic information we have. Most of those caught for cannibalism were pitied and imprisoned rather than shot.ĭespite people’s desperate condition, there was one source of food that remained untouched if you knew where to look. In many cases, corpse-eaters were often the most desperate people in society and largely involved single, unemployed mothers. The police even threatened unruly citizens with imprisonment in cannibals’ cells to maintain order. While the number of cannibalism cases were very few in proportion to the size of the population, the widespread fear of cannibals led to hysteria. This was the beginning of the Siege of Leningrad, the costliest in terms of lives lost in history.Īs the population starved, it was not unheard of for people to murder for ration cards and eat corpses. A thin strip of land across Lake Ladoga kept the residents in touch with the rest of Russia, but heavy shelling made it impossible to evacuate the population.

On 8 September 1941, Nazi forces surrounded Leningrad from the west and south, and through Finland to the north.

Best food to stockpile for apocalypse