Salting is a traditional method of preserving fish. After a fish is gutted, cleaned, and perhaps filleted, it is packed in salt and left, sometimes for several days. How does the salting process keep the fish from spoiling? Explain your answer in terms of water activity

The water activity is a parameter used in measuring the amount of available water in the flesh of a fish. For microbial growth and other enzymatic processes that induces spoilage to take place, there must be enough water in the flesh of fish. Through the process of salting, microbial growth is prevented by osmosis wherein water molecules is drawn out and replaced with salt in that the microbial cells are unable to survive in such an hypertonic environment and become dehydrated and die or become temporarily deactivated.