Why does artificial smoking have little preservative effect?

In the context of meat processing, artificial smoking—which involves dipping or painting meat with a solution of chemicals—has little to no preservative effect because it lacks the natural drying action inherent in traditional smoking methods.1

While traditional smoking preserves meat through both the chemical properties of wood smoke and the reduction of surface moisture, artificial methods bypass the dehydration process. Because the removal of available moisture is a critical factor in preventing microbial growth and spoilage, the absence of this drying action renders artificial smoking ineffective as a preservation technique.12