Canned foods contain many preservatives and lack nutrition? Online debunking is here!

Canned food is not nutritious? Unhealthy? Is the long shelf life due to the addition of a large amount of preservatives?

For a long time, people have had a deep misunderstanding of canned food. Today, let's debunk some myths about canned food online.

1

What is canned food?

Canned food, also known as canned food, refers to food raw materials that have been pre-processed, sealed in containers or packaging bags, and sterilized to kill most microorganisms. Under airtight and vacuum conditions, it can be stored at room temperature for a long time.

2

Canned foods contain preservatives and should not be eaten too much?

Most canned foods do not contain preservatives. Only a small number of canned foods may contain a small amount of preservatives due to process or raw material limitations.

The long shelf life of canned food is mainly determined by its production process. Generally speaking, the production of canned food involves raw material pretreatment → canning → exhaust, sealing → sterilization, cooling → insulation inspection → packaging.

After this series of operations, the inside of the can is an anaerobic and sterile environment, so it can be stored for a long time.

Whether the addition of preservatives in canned food is illegal depends on the type of food. According to GB2760-2014 "National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives", no preservatives are allowed to be added to fruit canned food. If preservatives are found in fruit canned food, it is illegal. The high sugar and anaerobic environment in fruit canned food is not suitable for microbial growth, so as long as the sterilization is thorough, no preservatives need to be added.

Meat canned food, due to the more complex types of microorganisms in the meat, may contain some anaerobic microorganisms. National standards stipulate that some additives can be used, such as lactic acid streptococcus, sodium nitrite, potassium nitrite, etc. However, in terms of China's production process, most factories can currently guarantee long-term storage of canned food under suitable conditions by sterilization alone, without the need to add preservatives, and most commercially available meat canned food does not contain preservatives.

And there is no need to be afraid of preservatives. As long as the preservatives are added within the reasonable types and ranges of national standards, they have been tested and proved to be harmless to human health.

3

Canned food has no nutrition?

1. Meat canned food

In fact, the high-temperature heating process will not have much impact on the abundant protein and n-3 fatty acids in fish. The B vitamins in fish are afraid of heat, and heating will cause a large loss, and long-term storage will further reduce them. However, fish is not the best source of B vitamins, and it can be obtained from other foods such as coarse grains.

Moreover, fish canned food also has advantages during processing. High-temperature and high-pressure heating during the canning process can make fish bones become crispy and soft, and a large amount of bone calcium is dissolved, which greatly increases the calcium content in the fish bones. The minerals such as iron, zinc, and selenium are not lost. It can be seen that there is not much difference in nutritional value between fresh fish and canned fish, and fish canned food can be used as a source of fish.

2. Fruit and vegetable canned food

The heating temperature of canned food generally does not exceed 120°C. The minerals in fruits and vegetables are not afraid of heating, and the content of potassium, calcium, and magnesium will not decrease due to sterilization treatment, and the dietary fiber in fruits and vegetables will also be retained. The main thing that fruits and vegetables are afraid of heat is vitamins, especially vitamin C, vitamin B, and folic acid.

Some vitamins will be decomposed due to heating, and some vitamins are lost because they are dissolved in the soup of the canned food and discarded when eating. Therefore, some vitamins in fruit and vegetable canned food will indeed be lost. However, these nutrients are not completely gone.

Other fat-soluble vitamins, such as beta-carotene, have little loss. Therefore, for some people who really can't eat fresh fruits and vegetables, fruit and vegetable canned food can also be a good nutritional supplement.

4

Consumer Tips

1. Check the appearance

If the canned food packaging is damaged, or there is bloating (the lid cannot be convex), do not buy it.

2. Refuse sugar

When choosing canned food, pay attention to the nutrition label and try to choose canned food with less sugar and salt.

Refuse sugar-soaked and refined seed oil cans.

Try to choose water-soaked canned food or olive oil-soaked canned food to avoid sugar-soaked and refined seed oil-soaked canned food to avoid trans fat and sugar.

3. How to judge the quality of tinplate fruit canned food?

The color of the fruit in tinplate fruit canned food cannot be seen. You can tap to hear the sound to judge. If the sound is clear, it means that the soup is clear and the fruit is intact; if the sound is dull, it may be due to prolonged storage, resulting in cloudy soup.

4. What should be paid attention to when purchasing canned food?

First of all, choose products produced by regular manufacturers. Secondly, when purchasing, you should pay attention to the product label. If potassium sorbate or other types of preservatives appear in the ingredient list of fruit canned food, it is mostly illegal addition.