Frozen vs Fresh Foods – Which is best?

Are fresh foods significantly richer in nutrients compared to their frozen counterparts?

When choosing frozen vegatables and fruits, are consumers sacrificing nutrition for convenience and value?

And most significantly, ‘how fresh is your food?’

These are among the frequent questions within the mind of consumer today. This has turn out to be more so concerning, as on this age of globalization, and very fast paced lifestyle, many individuals, especially those living in cities, don’t have the time to cook frequent fresh meals, and need to rely upon packed and frozen foods for fulfilling their day by day needs.

Also research found that, consumers strongly preferred fresh vegetables to frozen and that information concerning the nutrition content of fresh and frozen vegetables didn’t significantly alter preferences.

It is obvious that the freshest, and most likely the perfect quality is the immediate post-harvest ‘garden fresh’ produce. However, this just isn’t commonly available to the buyer who purchases either from a vegetable vendor or, more commonly now, from the supermarket. Produce purchased from the vendors or supermarkets, has traditionally been transported and stored pending sale at ambient temperature. The purchased vegetables will be further stored at ambient or chill temperatures, by the buyer prior to make use of, giving further scope for quality changes.

Acc. to a studyvegatables and fruits are vibrant, flavourful and nutritious components of our diets and are sometimes most tasty and health-promoting when harvested at their peak maturity. Unfortunately, most individuals don’t have home gardens able to supplying the advisable 5–13 day by day servings 12 months round.

Acc. to researchers, many vegatables and fruits grow only in certain parts of the world, under specific temperature and humidity environments, and at particular times of the 12 months. In addition, vegatables and fruits are typically over 90% water and, once they’re harvested, begin to undergo higher rates of respiration, leading to moisture loss, quality deterioration and potential microbial spoilage. Many fresh vegatables and fruits have a shelf lifetime of only days before they’re unsafe or undesirable for consumption.

Storage and processing technologies have been utilised for hundreds of years to remodel these perishable vegatables and fruits into secure, delicious and stable products.

Refrigeration slows down the respiration of vegatables and fruits and allows for longer shelf lives. Freezing, canning and drying all serve to remodel perishable vegatables and fruits into products that will be consumed 12 months round and transported safely to consumers everywhere in the world, not only those situated near the growing region. As a results of processing, respiration is arrested, thereby stopping the consumption of nutritious components, the lack of moisture and the expansion of micro-organisms.

Depending on the commodity, freezing and canning processes may preserve nutrient value. While the initial thermal treatment of canned products may end up in loss, nutrients are relatively stable during subsequent storage owing to the shortage of oxygen. Frozen products lose fewer nutrients initially, but they lose more nutrients during storage owing to oxidation. In addition to quality degradation, fresh vegatables and fruits normally lose nutrients more rapidly than canned or frozen products. Other variables similar to storage and cooking conditions will even influence the ultimate nutrient content of a food.

Some of the nutrient losses reported during processing, storage and/or cooking could also be statistically significant but not significant when it comes to human nutrition. For instance, carrots lose significant amounts of vitamin C during canning, but they usually are not good sources of this nutrient to start with. Similarly, other products similar to pineapple contain high enough levels of vitamin C that they continue to be good sources of the nutrient despite degradation during thermal processing.

A studyfound that, the relative amounts of water-soluble vitamin losses in canned, frozen, and fresh vegatables and fruits will also be influenced by the temperature of storage. Little vitamin C was lost in canned fruit and vegetable juices when the juice was stored at temperatures of 5deg C or less; more was lost if the storage temperature was higher.

Canned vegatables and fruits are likely to have barely lower levels of B vitamins than fresh cooked, aside from folate, which tends to stay stable. Fruits and vegetables which can be packed in brine or syrup are likely to lose phenolic compounds and people which can be vacuum packed or canned without liquids or with skin are likely to retain their levels of phenolic compounds.

A studycompared the status of targeted nutrients in chosen fresh and frozen vegatables and fruits. They also compared a 3rd category i.e. “fresh-stored” which intended to mimic typical consumer storage patterns of produce following purchase (five days of refrigeration). Broccoli, cauliflower, corn, green beans, green peas, spinach, blueberries, and strawberries of all three categories of freshness were analysed for his or her concentrations of l-ascorbic acid (vitamin C), β-carotene (vitamin A), and total folate.

Researchers found that, fresh produce loses vitamins upon refrigerated storage over time, while their frozen counterparts retain these nutrients equally so or higher. However, in the vast majority of comparisons between nutrients throughout the categories of fresh, frozen, and “fresh-stored”, the findings showed no significant differences in assessed vitamin contents.

A reportevaluated the impact of storage conditions on a spread of fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables. Fresh produce were stored in a general household refrigerator at 4deg C for as much as 3 days and a comparison made with equivalent frozen produce stored in a domestic freezer at -20deg C.

Six fresh and frozen produce were sourced from local supermarkets which included: Blueberries, Raspberries, Peas, Green Beans, Cauliflower & Baby Sweetcorn

The fresh and frozen produce were analysed using published methods for: Vitamin C, Total polyphenols, Total anthocyanins, & Carotenoids: β-carotene and lutein.

The following conclusions were made:

• The concentrations measured in frozen produce generally resembled those observed within the corresponding fresh produce prior to refrigerated storage.
• Nutrient concentrations in fresh produce regularly exhibited a decrease during refrigerated storage, to levels below those observed within the corresponding frozen produce. The effects were most noticeable within the soft fruits.
• Concentrations were regularly lowest after 3 days of refrigerated storage.

A studyusing vitamin C (ascorbic acid) as ‘marker’, allowed a direct comparison of the dietary quality of fresh vegetables at various stages of distribution and storage, with the identical vegetable commercially quick-frozen and stored deep frozen for as much as 12 months.

Favell found that, the nutrient status of frozen peas and broccoli was just like that of the everyday market-purchased vegetable and was superior to peas which have been stored in-home for several days. Fresh peas and broccoli retained their quality for as much as 14 days when stored under chill conditions. The nutrient status of frozen whole green beans and frozen carrots, with no loss on freezing, was just like the fresh vegetable at harvest. Frozen spinach also compared reasonably well with the harvested fresh vegetable and was clearly superior to all market produce.

A studyanalysed 4 vitamins in several fruit and vegetable commodities to guage the differences between fresh and frozen produce. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C), riboflavin (vitamin B2), Alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), and β-carotene (vitamin A) were evaluated in corn, carrots, broccoli, spinach, peas, green beans, strawberries, and blueberries.

Researchers found that, ascorbic acid showed no significant difference for five of the eight commodities and was higher in frozen samples than fresh for the remaining three commodities.

Apart from broccoli and peas, which were higher and lower in frozen vs fresh samples, respectively, not one of the commodities showed significant differences with respect to riboflavin content.

Three commodities had higher levels of α-tocopherol within the frozen samples, while the remaining commodities showed no significant difference between fresh and frozen.

β-Carotene was not present in significant amounts in blueberries, strawberries, and corn. Peas, carrots, and spinach were lower in β-carotene within the frozen samples, while green beans and spinach showed no significant difference between the 2 storage methods.

Overall, the vitamin content of the frozen commodities was comparable to and sometimes higher than that of their fresh counterparts. β-Carotene, nonetheless, was found to diminish drastically in some commodities.

CONCLUSION

1. Garden fresh harvest is the perfect and most nutritious, but for most individuals, this just isn’t possible unless you might be living in or near a farm.

2. Most purchase is mostly from local vegetable & fruit vendors, or supermarkets & shops. These have traditionally been transported and stored pending sale at ambient temperature. It may take as much as per week or more, before the buyer actually eats the fruit/vegetable.

3. In addition to quality degradation, fresh vegatables and fruits normally lose nutrients more rapidly than canned or frozen products. Other variables similar to storage and cooking conditions will even influence the ultimate nutrient content of a food.

4. Fresh produce loses vitamins upon refrigerated storage over time, while their frozen counterparts retain these nutrients equally so or higher. The concentrations measured in frozen produce generally resembled those observed within the corresponding fresh produce prior to refrigerated storage.

5. The nutrient status of frozen peas and broccoli is comparable to that of the everyday market-purchased vegetable and was superior to peas which have been stored in-home for several days. Fresh peas and broccoli retained their quality for as much as 14 days when stored under chill conditions. The nutrient status of frozen whole green beans and frozen carrots, with no loss on freezing, was just like the fresh vegetable at harvest. Frozen spinach also compared reasonably well with the harvested fresh vegetable and was clearly superior to all market produce.

6. Overall, the vitamin content of the frozen commodities was comparable to and sometimes higher than that of their fresh counterparts.

7. There isn’t any change in carbohydrate, protein, fibre and mineral content in frozen foods.

8. In conclusion: FARM FRESH > STORED FRESH/FROZEN > CANNED. That’s why if fresh produce just isn’t available, or difficult to obtain, then frozen is your next most suitable option.