Processed Foods

Have you ever wondered why peanut butter doesn’t separate? Why baking mixes rise in the oven? Why ice cream is smooth and creamy? Most likely, you take food appearances and quality for granted. 

 

But desirable qualities in processed foods can often be attributed to food additives.

Why Additives Are Used…

Food additives are no secret. The ingredient list on food labels can help you identify specific additives in any food. Additives are used for a variety of reasons:

Ø To Maintain or Improve Nutritional Quality

Ø To Preserve Quality and/or Freshness

Ø To Assist in Processing or Preparation

Ø To Make Food More Appealing

A few examples of processed foods include:

Processed Foods	Examples
Processed fruits	Canned fruit, Fruit jam, Fruit sauces Additives used: sodium sulfite
Convenience foods	Pizza, Breakfast cereal Additives used: Ascorbic Acid  (vitamin C, sodium ascorbate)
Processed meat	Canned meat, Sausage, Bacon Additives used: Sodium Nitrate (potassium nitrate or nitrite, sodium nitrite)
Processed dairy foods	Cheese, Milk other than raw (homogenized, pasteurized, skim, low-fat, etc.), Yogurt Additives used: Xanthan gum, emulsifier
Processed fats and oils	Margarine, Salad dressing, Mayonnaise, Peanut butter Additives used: Mono & Diglycerides (glyceryl monostearate disterate), emulsifier
Confections	Corn syrup, Pudding, Ice cream, Whipped cream Additives used: Stabilizers, Gelatin, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

Processed Meat

When viewing meat products of various size, shape and colour in butcher shops or meat sections of supermarkets, there appears to be is a great variety of such products with different taste characteristics. In some countries there may be several hundred different meat products, each with its individual product name and taste characteristics.

At a closer look, however, it turns out that many of the different products with different product names have great similarities. This issue can be even better understood and becomes more transparent when the processing technologies are analyzed. Based on the processing technologies used and taking into account the treatment of raw materials and the individual processing steps, it is possible to categorize processed meat products in several broad groups. 

• Fresh processed meat products: Hamburgers, Fried sausages, Chicken nuggets & Kebab.

• Cured meat pieces: Raw ham, Cooked ham, Bacon, Lunch Meat.

• Raw-cooked products: Meat Loaf, Frankfurter.

Fresh processed meat products

These products are meat mixes composed of comminuted muscle meat with varying quantities of animal fat. Products are salted only, curing is not practiced. Non-meat ingredients are added in smaller quantities for improvement of flavor and binding, in low-cost versions larger quantities are added for volume extension. All meat and non-meat ingredients are added fresh (raw). Heat treatment (frying, cooking) is applied immediately prior to consumption to make the products palatable. 

If the fresh meat mixes are filled in casings, they are defined as sausages (e.g. frying sausages). If other portioning is customary, the products are known as patties, kebab. Convenience products, such as chicken nuggets have a similar processing technology and can also be included in this group. In contrast to the rest of the group, chicken nuggets etc. are already fried in oil at the manufacturing stage during the last step of production.

Cured Meat

Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes, especially of meat or fish, by the addition of a combination of salt, nitrates, nitrite or sugar. Many curing processes also involve smoking, the process of flavoring, or cooking. The use of food dehydration was the earliest form of food curing.  

Salt-cured meat or salted meat, for example bacon and cooked ham, is meat which preserved or cured with salt. Salting, either with dry salt or brine, was the only widely available method of preserving meat until the 19th century. Salt inhibits the growth of microorganisms by drawing water out of microbial cells through osmosis. Concentrations of salt up to 20% are required to kill most species of unwanted bacteria. Smoking, often used in the process of curing meat, adds chemicals to the surface of meat that reduce the concentration of salt required.

Raw-cooked meat products

The product components muscle meat, fat and non-meat ingredients which are processed raw, i.e. uncooked by comminuting and mixing. The resulting viscous mix or batter is portioned in sausages or otherwise and thereafter submitted to heat treatment, i.e. “cooked”. The heat treatment induces protein coagulation which results in a typical firm-elastic texture for raw-cooked products. In addition to the typical texture the desired palatability and a certain degree of bacterial stability is achieved.

Food additive in processed meats .....

One of the main groups of food additives is preservatives. This preservation involves treating the meat by salting, curing, smoking or using chemical preservatives. Although they don’t usually contain sugar, processed meats, which are heavy on salt and preservatives, seem to be linked to several side effects. Preservative such as sodium nitrite or potassium nitrite play a key role in the safety of processed meats. 

Nitrites, or in slow cured meats sodium or potassium nitrates which are gradually converted to   nitrites, are the key ingredients in meat cures. They provide excellent protection against botulism in processed meats. At the same time their use results in the characteristic colour and flavour of cured meats. Other preservatives inhibit the growth of microorganisms. The sulphites, sources of sulphur dioxide, also inhibit the growth of microorganisms while retaining the bloom (fresh colour and appearance) of red meat.

Excessive intake of food additives in processed meats will cause…

Preservative use is regulated for a number of very good reasons. Some preservatives can have adverse affects on health. The levels of nitrates and nitrites in meat are restricted because they can be converted in the stomach or during high temperature frying to chemicals understood to cause cancer. Sulphur dioxide exposure causes breathing difficulties in some people. Other preservatives can have adverse affects if consumption limits are exceeded. Preservatives can also be regulated to prevent use which is incompatible with other manufacturing processes.


Should we stop eating processed meat all together?

• Try to cut down on processed meat by having ‘meat-free’ days and trying to opt for organic meat options if budget allows.

• Check the back of meat packets for extra ingredients that will tell you if it’s been processed to make it last longer.

• In general, fresh poultry is considered a better option so try replacing heavily processed foods such as ham or sausage with chicken.

Peanut Butter

I believed that there aren’t many things peoples enjoy more than a good Peanut Butter & Jam and not all peanut butter is processed in a destructive way, but, unfortunately, most peanut butter is heavily processed. Industrial food producers add stabilizers (food additives) such as mono- and diglycerides to ground peanuts to prevent the natural separation that occurs when a jar of peanut butter sits on a shelf. 

For our information, stabilizers are chemicals that are used to enable oil and water in the food to mix together properly in order to form an emulsion of oil and water. Emulsions are either oil droplets suspended in water or water droplets suspended in oil. It is also added to improve the texture of foods. Therefore, stabilizers function as

• Mixes two liquids that usually do not mix together.

• Prevents the sedimentation process of liquids.

• Provides a smooth and uniform texture of food.

Thus, the reason why peanut butter don’t separate is because the adding of mono-and diglycerides into it.

So what are mono-and diglycerides?

Mono- and diglycerides are emulsifying agents – they are both hydrophilic (attracting water) and hydrophobic (repelling water), so they are soluble in both water and fat, which makes them unique – but not necessarily natural.  They are used to keep oils from separating out of products and used to increase shelf life – the same reasons that trans fats are used in most products. 

Just think of traditional peanut butter - it is smooth and creamy right out of the jar because the trans fat in it prevents the oil from separating out. In fact, you will find mono- and diglycerides in many varieties of peanut butter in addition to bakery products - and you will even find them in most margarine. 

Peanut butter on its own is a food that has an abundance of healthy unsaturated fatty acids (including oleic acid and monounsaturated fat), which are believed to be good for the heart. However, adding trans-fats for consumer appeal and increased shelf life cancels out these health benefits, making processed peanut butter a food that you should avoid.



THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY


Peanut butter is one of those highly debatable foods. Some
say it's healthy for you and others beg to differ. It's time to unveil the truth!

First, the good

Of course, peanut butter does have some good qualities that are important to recognize. For those able to control themselves and eat only one serving, peanut butter can actually help aid in weight loss. Chock full of fiber and protein, it helps to keep fuller longer so you eat less overall. Benefits of peanut butter may include: 

• It's anti-aging. Peanut butter contains antioxidant which can help to reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

• It's rich in nutrients. Peanut butter is full of vitamin E, calcium, iron, potassium and folic acid — all of which provide for better circulation and cardiovascular health.

• It can help fight cancer. Loaded with antioxidants, peanut butter can help reduce your risk for cancer and heart disease.

Now, the bad…

Even in moderation, peanut butter does have a few disadvantages that are important to note. Typically, extra sugar is added to many common brands causing the calorie count to be even higher. To keep peanut butter from separating, cheap oils — such as palm oil — are added. Palm oil adds significantly more saturated fat to the already high-in-fat food.  Not to mention it, peanut butter also contains saturated and trans fats. 

These fats are considered the bad fats because they have a negative effect on heart health. Saturated fats increase levels of bad cholesterol without affecting good cholesterol. Trans fats are worse because they increase bad cholesterol while lowering levels of good cholesterol. Apart from it, saturated fats are mainly found in animal-based food products such as high-fat meats, whole milk and full-fat dairy products.