Canned Food Products Safety
Canned food products have an illustrious history of innovation and development. Canned food history begins in the early nineteenth century as an invention of a French confectioner, Nicolas Appert. His observation that food spoiled when seals were broken led him to come up with a process to effectively use glass jars to preserve food in a safe state. The problem of the expense and fragility of glass jars was quickly solved as canisters made of tin or wrought-iron were put into use. These cans were used to feed soldiers who did not have ready access to food while at war. After the Napoleonic Wars reached a close, the cans began to gain widespread attention and use throughout Europe and in North America. As better transportation routes and methods of canning were developed, canned food became more and more common.
The nutritional value of canned food is often a source of much controversy. In a general sense, canned foods have an equivalent quality of nutritional value when compared to their fresh or frozen counterparts. However, some nutrients and vitamins are more effected by the process of canning than others. Canned food safety necessitates that the contents of a can be heated to rid the product of any potentially dangerous micro-organisms. However, this process can be a detriment to certain vitamins. Water soluble vitamins, such as vitamin C, folate, and certain B vitamins are not very stable and their levels are severely depleted during the canning process.
This aspect of vitamin depletion is obviously a negative aspect of buying canned food. However, there are positives as well. One reason that many people buy canned food is that canned food storage will last longer periods of time, thus reducing the expense of wasted food that has gone bad. In addition, canned food is often processed during its prime period of ripeness, ensuring the highest levels of vitamins that are not water soluble. Fresh food can sometimes be picked before it is ripe to account for transportation times going from the farm to the supermarket shelves. On the other hand, there are other negative aspects to consider when deciding to buy fresh, frozen, or canned goods.
While the process of canning food eliminates the need for additional preservatives, there are some additives that are routinely inserted into canned food. The primary additive is sodium, or salt. Eating a lot of canned food can drastically raise a person’s salt intake. This dietary habit can cause health problems in some individuals. Another dangerous additive is the addition of sugars or sugar substitutes, such as high fructose corn syrup. Elevated levels of processed sugar intake has been proven to cause certain health risks.
The debate over whether to choose fresh or canned food has been present ever since the invention of canned food. While eating fresh food while it is most ripe is the best option from a health perspective, this can be problematic as being able to find ripe specimens may be difficult. A person eating high amounts of canned food products should be aware of the additives that they are ingesting and the resulting canned food safety implications.