Prepared dishes is your healthy choice
Casually open an e-commerce App, enter the prepared dishes or convenient dishes, fast food, will pop up a large number of dishes information: shredded pork with fish, plum and vegetable buckwheat, cumin lamb chops, vegetable spring rolls? A tantalizing picture with price tags ranging from a dozen to a few dozen dollars, under the link?100,000+? Article of the comments, different brands of web pages one after another, as if overnight, pre-prepared dishes have become a regular item in the shopping cart of many consumers.
Prepared dishes are convenient, but enjoy the convenience at the same time, it can set delicious and healthy in one? Can meet the high demand for nutrition? The reporter interviewed relevant experts.
Good to eat, taste to know
In accordance with the standards issued by the China Cuisine Association, pre-prepared dishes are ? One or more agricultural products as the main raw material, the use of standardized assembly line operation, by pre-processing (such as cutting, mixing, marinating, kneading, molding, seasoning, etc.) and or pre-cooking (such as stir-fry, deep-fried, grilled, boiled, steamed, etc.) made, and pre-packaged finished or semi-finished dishes?
Fan Zhihong, a professor at the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, School of Food, China Agricultural University, introduced: ? Prepared dish products are divided into ready-to-eat class, that is hot class, that is cooking class, that is with the class of four types. The ready-to-eat category is a product that can be eaten directly after opening. The hot category is after cooking treatment is already cooked or semi-cooked state, after a simple reheat can be consumed products. Ready-to-cook is a product that has completed certain processing of the main raw materials and can be eaten after cooking. The ready-to-eat category is after cleaning, cutting and other simple processing, immediately can be allocated to the dishes in the use of the product.
Prepared dishes in the end is not good to eat, perhaps only personally taste to know. Everyone has different taste preferences, and even the same dish has mixed reviews. Take a certain brand of small crispy meat as an example, some people say ? The outside of the sweet potato flour tastes chewy, inside the meat flavorful and delicious? The meat inside is flavorful and tasty. The package powder thick, meat fishy, pepper is actually a whole?
The actual experience can be tasted, the flavor of the pre-prepared and home-cooked dishes are not quite the same. Why do you think the pre-prepared dishes can make home cooking can not do the flavor? Fan Zhihong explained that the development process of pre-prepared dishes have chef participation, rich seasoning achievement of pre-prepared dishes rich flavor. Prepared dishes in a dish may have seven or eight or even more spices, such as cardamom, thyme, rosemary, basil, etc., usually usually at home stir-fry is not so much seasoning. However, experts specifically pointed out that the richness of the flavor of the pre-prepared dishes and additives are not entirely related, because many spices are natural, although the fish sauce, soy sauce and other seasonings in the additives, but home cooking will also be used.
There is also a difference between pre-prepared dishes and those sold in restaurants.
The reporter learned in the interview, the production process, freezing technology and reheating techniques and other factors will affect the taste of prepared dishes. An organization of different manufacturers of more than 50 kinds of products, from the aroma, taste, cooking before and after the comparison of the sensory evaluation, the results show that the different dishes in the different taste reduction, meat dishes taste reduction is higher than the fish and shrimp class, boiled products taste reduction is higher than the deep-fried class.
In the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Institute of Agricultural Products Processing Innovation Team, Zhang Chunhui, chief scientist, chef ready-to-sell products and industrialized products there is a gap in the quality of the gap, which suggests that the processing of pre-prepared dishes to achieve the industrialization of homogeneous conversion there are still a few key technologies need to be overcome. The first is? Pot gas? The first is the "pot gas" problem. Pot gas? refers to the ingredients through the thermal reaction to produce flavor, industrialization of the flavor formation process needs to be analyzed and restored; the second is the quick-freezing and locking technology. At present, chili peppers, green bamboo shoots and other root vegetables can realize the preservation of green shape, but some leafy greens green shape preservation technology needs to break through; the third is the reheat technique. In accordance with the product description of the production, do a better job of prefabricated vegetables quality recovery can reach 80% to 90%.
? The first one is that the oil is too much salt and the oil is too big. is also a problem that consumers reflect more. In this regard, Yang Xiaoguang, vice president of the Chinese Nutrition Society, pointed out that this is a market behavior. ? The market is to meet the demand, salt and oil taste is often more attractive to consumers, companies that produce less oil and salt sales will be low, can not earn money. So the most important thing is to cultivate consumer preferences.?
Fan Zhihong also reminded that the day's meals are composed of a variety of foods, a food can not determine the quality of meals. Ready-to-eat and hot type of pre-prepared dishes with fewer vegetables, more salt and oil and so on, can be solved by matching the food with less oil and less salt.
The loss of nutrients does not mean that there is no nutrition
Are there still nutrients in prepared dishes? Is it healthy to eat prepared dishes? This is a topic of concern for many consumers.
Wang Chen, who works in Beijing, often eats pre-prepared dishes, and she is worried that the process of secondary heating and freezing may cause nutrient loss, and the additives in it may also have a negative impact on health.
? Prepared vegetables after heat processing treatment, the loss of nutrients is mainly vegetables in the vitamins and a small amount of minerals, dietary fiber is not a great loss. Meat products as long as they are fresh and good quality, the loss of protein after heating is not much.? Beijing Tiantan Hospital Clinical Nutrition Deputy Chief Physician Xu Yingxia said.
? In fact, whether it is home cooking or factory processing, will cause the loss of nutrients. For example, heating will make the loss of vitamin C, fried vegetables, the general vitamin C will be lost 20% to 30% or less, if stewed very bad loss will be more than half. Frying, breaking will have oxidative loss, the cells of the vegetables are destroyed, the air is in direct contact with the nutrients in the cells, will cause the loss of carotene, anthocyanins, etc.? Fan Zhihong introduced, theoretically, and with high-quality fresh natural ingredients on-site reasonable production and immediately eat the food compared to do a good job after room temperature storage or frozen for several months of food, the nutritional value will have a certain decline. And after a good and then after a heating, should be more than a heating will cause more nutrient loss.
But you can't generalize. Fan Zhihong told reporters: ? If done well, pre-prepared dishes can also have a high rate of nutrient preservation; if not done well, even if processed on-site, can cause a higher rate of nutrient loss.?
? Pre-processed ingredients are not necessarily devoid of nutritional value.? Fan Zhihong explained that the research data of various countries proved that the reasonable frozen preservation of ingredients, can still save the vast majority of these nutrients. Therefore, Europe and the United States dietary guidelines, frozen vegetables and fresh vegetables into a category, also encourages consumers to eat.
For example, frozen young peas, young beans, carrots, sweet corn kernels, and so on, have become part of everyday cooking ingredients, and are used in homes, restaurants, and cafeterias. Ingredients such as canned tomatoes, canned mushrooms and canned corn shoots are also often found in a variety of restaurant dishes.? Those who have been processed, open the bag on the pot of frozen shredded meat, fish fillets, shrimp, etc., and no greater loss of nutrients than buying their own frozen fish and meat and then cooking at home.? Fan Zhihong said.
The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" suggests that people have vegetables in their meals and ensure that they consume no less than 300 grams of fresh vegetables per day, which is obviously difficult to achieve when you only eat pre-prepared dishes.
For this reason, Fan Zhihong suggested that ? While eating pre-prepared dishes with their own vegetables, there is no cooking conditions can be raw tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, etc.. You can also steam pumpkins and greens at home with the help of simple cooking tools, and you can eat fresh vegetables in just a few minutes.?
? Prepared vegetables are preserved by sterilization. Packing pre-made vegetables in composite film aluminum bags, the bacteria inside have been killed, the bacteria outside can not enter, no microorganisms will not rot, so there is no need for the public to worry. But specific to each product is safe, it depends on whether the quality of its ingredients is stable, whether the production management is strict, whether the process parameters are reasonable.? Fan Zhihong introduced, just like we order in the restaurant site, can not determine whether it is safe enough, but depends on the store's raw material quality is good, the store on the back of the kitchen hygiene management is strict, the chef's operation is in place.
People may also have a concern that pre-prepared dishes, like leftovers, will be stored for a long time and produce carcinogens? Fan Zhihong said: ? Nitrites are the result of microbial activity. Nitrite in fresh leafy greens is as low as a few milligrams per kilogram, which is negligible from a food safety perspective. But unreasonable storage processes, nitrate reductase in the plant will reduce nitrate to nitrite. The cooking process inactivates the enzyme in the plant, but some microorganisms also reduce nitrate to nitrite. Nitrite can be synthesized with protein breakdown products in the stomach to form the carcinogen nitrosamine. Therefore, food spoilage or too much nitrite, mainly microbial trouble. Therefore, in food processing, the top priority is to fight with bacteria. Sterilization treatment coupled with sealed packaging, can make the microorganisms inside the dish is killed, and outside the microorganisms can not enter. As long as the microorganisms do not exceed the standard, pre-prepared dishes do not produce nitrite during storage. Before eating, open the package to heat up, although the air, tableware also contains a small amount of bacteria, but not waiting for the bacteria to over-proliferation, not waiting for it to produce nitrite, the dish is eaten into the stomach, so do not have to worry about nitrite problems.
Convenience is the core competitiveness, choose or not depending on the life scene
Cooking by yourself, not only do you need to cook on the site and a variety of cooking utensils, but also need to prepare food and oil and rice, meat, poultry, eggs and milk, etc., washing and cutting and stir frying an operation down, it can easily take an hour or two. Can the convenience of pre-prepared dishes fill their nutritional? The defects?
The reporter found that, due to the degree of pre-processing, different types of pre-prepared dishes require secondary processing complexity is different. Ready-to-eat type of prepared dishes can be consumed directly, that is, the secondary processing of hot type of prepared dishes is relatively simple, and that is cooking class, that is, with the type of prepared dishes is relatively troublesome, requires a certain degree of cooking skills. Especially for the ready-to-cook type of prepared dishes, you need to mix and process the ingredients yourself, which takes a little longer. Some research results show that the need for simple stir-fry dishes can be completed in a few minutes, while the complexity of the process of the dish is about half an hour or even longer, six dishes from the thawing of the ingredients, ready to prepare the dishes to open fire production, took nearly two hours, and some businesses said that 20 minutes a table dish? There is a certain gap.
But and from beginning to end are their own cooking complex dishes compared to, that is, cooking, that is, with the class of prefabricated dishes can really save a lot of time. Because of this, New Year's Eve dinner has also become a major consumer scenario for pre-made dishes.
? In the past two years in order to make the New Year's Eve dinner I have bought semi-finished dishes, steamed and stir-fried, 10 minutes to get a dish. With two or three individual homemade dishes, you can make the New Year's Eve dinner for six people in about two hours. In previous years, a large family get together to eat New Year's Eve dinner, usually eat the noon meal will start to busy New Year's Eve dinner, in addition to the elderly children, who can not be idle. Jiang Guiying, 58, said that although some of the tastes of the pre-made dishes are not satisfactory, but it does make the New Year's Eve dinner ? simplified?
? To say that the role of pre-made dishes is actually to give me one more choice. If I want something quick, I'll have the self-heating hot pot, which is ready in 10 minutes. When I want a change of flavor, I order takeout, but it takes at least half an hour from ordering to eating. If I have time, I'll stir-fry my own food, which doesn't take long, but it's a bit of a hassle to clean up the kitchen. Wang Chen says she eats first depending on the time of day, and second depending on whether she is lazy or not. Lazy or not?
? Given the huge public demand for efficient dining, the market for prepared dishes is only expected to grow. As consumers, we're just waiting for the industry to have full market competition, and then more and better quality products will emerge to meet our high demands for convenience, flavor, safety and nutrition in many ways.? Fan Zhihong said.
? Deliciousness is the premise of the rapid development of prepared dishes, convenience is the core competitiveness of prepared dishes, food safety is the chassis and protection, nutrition is the pursuit of the prepared dish industry.? In Wang Chunhui's opinion, the three tracks of family kitchen, prepared dishes and catering industry should have their own responsibilities and learn from each other, **** with the solution to the problem of food on the table.