The basis of long life of pickles and jams is PRESERVATION.
As pickles are preserved byadding oil and vinegarand jams are preserved by adding sugar and some common preservatives like sodium benzoate and sodium metabisulphite.
Therefore, the lesson one gets from this fact is that some microorganisms canattack and spoil the food but there are ways to prevent the food from being spoiled by microorganisms by using the method of PRESERVATION.
Preservatives help to maintain the existing condition of pickles and jams. To delay the spoiling of foodstuffs by micro organisms, anti microbial substances are used which inhibit, delay or prevent the growth of bacteria, yeasts and moulds. Sorbic acid is used to preserve jam. Benzoic acid and its calcium, sodium or potassium salts are used to preserve pickles and low sugar jams.
To ensure that preservatives really help in making the foodstuffs safer, their use is subject to pre market safety assessment and authorisation procedure. So while buying pickles and jams we should check whether approved preservatives have been used.