Top 5 Frozen Food Myths in Singapore
Who doesnt want fresh food all year long?
The main reason to choose fresh food over frozen food lays in the belief that the latter will never win in the battle over taste and nutrients.
Believe it or not, allow me to walk the talk, to prove that frozen food shouldn’tt deserve the bad rap!
Here are the top 5 myths that have kept frozen food to suffer from consumers’ misconception.
FROZEN FOOD IS LESS NUTRITIOUS
It’s very present with think that any fresh foods can best a frozen one when it comes to dietary value.
There’s a saying: Fresh is better. Exactly! Frozen meals are always treated like a contingency option when fresh foods is unavailable. But this isn’t always right. Actually, frozen foods could be healthier than fresh ones.
To place it in perspective, within this situation, fresh slot pragmatic meat includes a lengthy journey from slaughterhouse to supermarket or wet market, which leads to degrading of nutrients throughout the transitions.
On the other hand, frozen meat is blast frozen to secure the nutrients and freshness when the butcher completes the cuts.
The duration from storage to begin cooking also plays a huge role to maintain nutrients. Fresh meat that were chilled for several days within the refrigerator won’t out-perform its frozen counterpart at any time over time, since it loses nutrients faster with time without having to be kept in a frozen condition.
FROZEN FOOD IS HIGH IN SODIUM & ADDED PRESERVATIVES
You’ll be pardoned for those who have this assumption. In the end, a long time ago, many didn?t believe you’ll have a quick meal that’s healthy simultaneously.
Added preservatives are unnecessary to improve food shelf existence, considering that freezing meals are already an all natural type of upkeep. Many frozen food manufacturers, like SADIA ? have the freedom of preservatives.
Today, the frozen grocery store continues to be driven through the growing number of individuals becoming health-conscious. Therefore, many manufacturers are coming up with plenty of preservative-free ready meals which are lower in calories and sodium to satisfy the requirements.
The Singapore Heart Foundation has suggested 2000mg of sodium because the daily benchmark for healthy adults, that is not hard to exceed if you’re not conscious enough. Because of this, we ought to strive for the cheapest sodium whenever possible.
First, scan the packaging for that ?Healthier Choice? Symbol, which signifies it’s a healthier option than the others.
Browse the diet details label too, you need to strive for frozen ready meals which have under 600 mg of sodium and under 500 kcal of calories. On the side note, make sure avoid individuals which are lower in protein the answer to help you stay full longer.
FROZEN FOOD CANT BE REFREEZE ONCE THAWED
[Don’t refreeze after thawing] performs this appear familiar for you?
Frequently seen on frozen food packaging, frozen food manufacturers be cautious because they’ve known that does not many individuals are cautious about safe thawing methods. So that they trick instead of educate!
Actually, refreezing is just harmful to food thawed at 70 degrees around the counter top in which the bacteria return to existence and start to multiply.
Refreezing doesn?t destroy bacteria, it simply keeps them inactive before the next thawing session. Imagine how contaminated thawed food could be soon after refreezing cycles and when cooking isn?t done correctly in the right temperature, then food poisoning occurs.
Preventive Guidelines
Thaw food around the cheapest shelf of refrigerator at 4? or lower ? This can slow bacteria growth
Refreeze food at -18? in container, freezer bag or plastic wrap to reduce air exposure ? This can prevent freezer burn
Prepare food to some safe internal temperature with a minimum of 75? ? This can destroy most bacteria
All food thawed by other methods for example microwave or cold water is unsafe to become refrozen. Regrettably, it’s either you refreeze it after cooking or dump it raw.
Existence happens and often our dinners plan get adjusted. Nobody likes wasting food but it’s certainly much better than catching the foodborne illness.
FROZEN FOOD TASTE DIFFERENT (IN A BAD WAY)
Sorry believers, but it?s true only when freezing and storage aren’t done underneath the right conditions.
Should you remember, ?Freezer burn? was pointed out seconds ago. It is because of lack of fluids, particularly on frozen food with water happy to being with.
Water molecules form ice crystals in the existence of air, they avoid the meals towards the very coldest area of the freezer, hence flavor is frequently lost along the way.
I bet you’ve seen certainly one of individuals frozen food coated having a thick layer of ice crystals, for the reason that the top of it will likely be the very coldest when air movement will get restricted inside a food packaging.
The very best prevention would be to provide your food an additional layer of protection by vacuum sealing it or wrap tightly with plastic wrap. The explanation would be to stop air from entering connection with food.
The result from the repeated freeze-thaw cycle may be the next offender that includes to losing natural flavor and texture in frozen food. As water freeze to get ice, it expands and therefore forces to break the cell walls from the food.
Oftentimes undetected, further damage might happen because of refroze once the temperature fluctuates within the freezer, which may be minimized by not overloading the freezer compartment, and refraining in the regular opening, and turning off the freezer door.
And finally, may be the speed of freezing. The faster it requires to obtain lower below freezing point, the smaller sized the ice very created, leading to less severity caused towards the food?s cells.
Thankfully with today?s new technology to freeze faster, and therefore you can rest assured that frozen foods retain their quality.
FROZEN FOOD EXPIRES
Are you currently in dilemma to prepare that bag of frozen wings, bought several weeks ago?
The good thing is YES! Based on Food and drug administration, frozen food beyond the expiry date is going to be safe indefinitely as long as it’s been stored frozen consistently. However, the large BUT is the fact that quality may be compromised.
Even freeze burnt foods are secure to become consumed too.
That provides me the idea the expiry date is really there to help keep frozen food manufacturers from being responsible for their goods following a certain time period, instead of to point the merchandise is unsafe to eat at any more reason for time.
All stated, we still trust our local authority better right? Although SFA didn?t come obvious on frozen food safety beyond expiry on their own site, listed here are their suggested durations of storing food.
The Conclusion
FRESH ISN?T ALWAYS SO FRESH, FROZEN DOESN?T MEAN NOT FRESH.
The treatment depends about how you intend your meals preparation.