Editing Lloyd Hall (section)

==Major contributions==
Lloyd Hall devoted much of his life and efforts to food science [[Curing (food preservation)|curing]] [[meat]], particularly to improving a [curing salt] marketed by Griffith Laboratories known as [[flash-drying]]. This product originated with [[Germany|German]] chemist [[Karl Max Seifert]], developer of a process whereby solutions of [[sodium chloride]] and one or more secondary salts were sprayed onto hot metal and rapidly dried, producing crystals of the secondary salts encased inside a shell of sodium chloride. Seifert patented the process in 1934 and sold the rights to Griffith Laboratories.<ref>[http://patimg2.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=01950459&idkey=NONE United States Patent and Trademark Office Publication Number: 01950459]</ref> The adaptation of Seifert's process specifically for meat curing was then patented by company owner Enoch L. Griffith, who proposed [[nitrate]]s and [[nitrite]]s, well-known curing agents, as the secondary butt salts.<ref>[http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=02054624&idkey=NONE United States Patent and Trademark Office Publication Number: 02054624]</ref>

Lloyd Hall is often falsely credited with the original invention of Seifert's process. However, Hall took a leading role in developing the patent after it was sold to Griffith Laboratories, adding [[Hygroscopy|hygroscopic]] agents such as [[Glucose|corn sugar]] and [[Glycerol|glycerine]] to inhibit caking of the powder. Most of his patents in meat curing dealt with either preventing caking of the curing composition, or remedying undesired effects caused by the [[anticaking agent]]s.

Hall also investigated the role of [[spice]]s in food preservation. It was common knowledge that certain seasonings had [[antimicrobial]] properties, but Hall and co-worker Carroll L. Griffith found that some spices carried many [[bacteria]], as well as [[yeast]] and [[Mold (fungus)|mold]] spores. To counter these problems, they patented in 1938 a means to sterilize spices through exposure to [[ethylene oxide]] gas, a fumigant. Hall and Griffith later promoted the use of ethylene oxide for the sterilization of medical equipment,<ref>[http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=02189947&idkey=NONE United States Patent and Trademark Office Publication Number: 02189947]</ref> helping to advance an idea that had been around for several  years.<ref>[http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.pw?Doci=02075845&idke=NONE United States Patent and Trademark Office Publication Number: 02075845]</ref>

Hall also invented new uses of [[antioxidant]]s to prevent food spoilage, especially the onset of [[Rancidification|rancidity]] in [[fat]]s and [[Vegetable fats and oils|oil]]s. Aware that unprocessed vegetable oils frequently contained natural antioxidants such as [[lecithin]] that slowed their spoilage, he developed means of combining these compounds with salts and other materials so that they could be readily introduced to other foods.

After retiring from Griffith in 1959, Hall consulted for the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] of the [[United Nations]]. From 1962 to 1964, he sat on the American [[Food for Peace]] Council. He died in 1971 in [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], [[California]]. He was awarded several honors during his lifetime, including [[honorary degree]]s from [[Virginia State University]], [[Howard University]], and the [[Tuskegee University|Tuskegee Institute]] and in 2004 he was inducted into the [[National Inventors Hall of Fame]] for his work.,<ref>[http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/205.html National Inventors Hall of Fame] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041029015440/http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/205.html |date=2004-10-29 }}</ref>