Even though the knowledge about technologies used in food industry is available to everyone, there are still many controversial things which are making people rather confused. At the same time, there are also many common believes which might sound sane to many individuals, albeit they are not true. It is high time to debunk some of the popular myths about food preservation.
Frozen vegetables have less vitamins than fresh ones
Fresh vegetables and fruits are certainly amazing for one’s health. Still, it does not mean that frozen ones are of a worse quality. In the reality, in many cases the products preserved by freezing have an even higher nutritional value than the ones which are sold fresh.
First of all, it is crucial to understand that the freezing technology used in the food industry is not the same as the one you are using in your kitchen hiding some products in a freezer. The freezers used for food manufacturing are capable of more efficient decreasing of a temperature which does not ruin the cell structures of products so severely as regular freezers used at home. The latter ones are causing severe damage in the structure of cells which is the major reason why one should not freeze the same product several time.
The second reason why frozen vegetables and fruits are usually richer in nutritional substances than fresh ones is the fact the fresh fruits and vegetables available for sale are rarely fresh especially if they are sold in a regular supermarket. The majority of them had already been stored for a quite a while before they got to the stores. Some fruits and vegetables are actually stored for months, for example, apples in the areas with high apple production and one harvest season. Usually, in such places one can buy local apples during the entire year, however, the ones available in February or March have already spent at least six month in their storage place.
Some products are especially prone to losing their nutritional quality. This is particularly true for leaf vegetables and berries. Green beans are also one of the products which is not thus healthy as one can assume when it is bought fresh in a regular supermarket. For example, this vegetable can lose even a half of its vitamin C within 24 hours after being harvested.
Freezing can be used as a method of preservation saving from microorganisms
Another popular myth about food preservation is also connected to freezing. You might have come across a belief into an antimicrobial power of freezing.
Microorganisms are actually not capable of living through particularly low temperatures, however, in many cases the temperature lethal for microorganisms has to be well below 100 degrees Celsius.
In the reality, neither your home refrigerator nor the freezers used in the food industry can create such low temperatures as this will require a huge amount of energy and will make the price of frozen products extremely high.
The temperature available in a regular freezer is absolutely not enough for saving a frozen product from the proliferation of microorganisms. In fact, some of them are still active even though the temperature is below zero. That is why the things you are freezing at home do not have an infinite expiration date and all of them should be consumed within a particular amount of time otherwise they will become dangerous for one’s health. In addition to it, the damage of cells coming with regular freezing available in household freezers is damaging the cells of products which is making them more prone to spoilage once they are out of a fridge.
For these reasons you should never freeze the food you believe might be contaminated and should not consume products which have been frozen for a more than a couple of months. Furthermore, it is recommended to consume the food after taking it out if a freezer as soon as possible.