Can Processed Foods Be Healthy for You?

Even the most well-meaning nutrition advice can be wrong. Particularly about processed foods. While most people are convinced that whole foods are better than processed foods, experts tend to have a more nuanced opinion.

In fact, nutritionists will tell you that the minute you cook something you have processed it. The term ‘processed food’ simply refers to any food item that has been modified to make it more edible or less perishable. Nutritionists at the Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital believe particular processing technologies, can help make healthy processed food that lasts longer, tastes the same, and is more convenient.

Look Beyond the Marketing

Food aisles are overwhelmed with marketing quips masquerading as expert nutritional advice. Food manufacturers and companies have latched onto the ‘whole food’ movement to make their products more appealing.

But for reasonable consumers, the best way to get the most nutritional value for their money is to look beyond the packaging and marketing to the underlying facts. A quick glance at the nutritional data on the back will help most households discern if the food is indeed good for them and their loved ones.

Nutritionists consider heavily processed foods such as frozen pizzas and canned beans perfectly healthy. Healthy processed foods such as yogurt, peanut butter, tomato sauce, frozen pizza, and whole grain breakfast cereals usually have a lot of nutritional value and longer shelf lives.  (Not sure what this is saying? Today’s processed foods contain poor nutritional levels…look at the health of the North American public…obesity and fatigue

Processed healthy food can also be a result of better technology.

Better Technologies

Innovative new techniques have helped manufacturers create healthy processed food that is more convenient for retailers and more effective for consumers. Gentle Processing™ is on the bleeding edge of this food revolution. The disruptive new technique applies pure energy to treat the food from within. This causes all the bacteria and bacterial spores to die while preserving the nutritional content of food for longer. Unlike other food processing techniques, such as High Pressure Processing, Gentle Processing™ can be applied to a wider range of natural foods and is a significantly greener industrial process.

The result is healthy processed food that can be safely transported across thousands of miles and stored for weeks while still retaining all the key nutrients nature intended. The benefits to consumers are maximized while the costs to retailers and the damage to the environment is minimized.

Supported by research from the University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatoon Food Innovation Centre, Gentle Processing™ technology has been fine-tuned over the years to help food manufacturers across North America adopt better ways to deliver healthy processed food.

With a growing number of major manufacturers adopting these new techniques, it’s safe to say the future of healthy food is brighter than expected. In a few decades, food that lasts longer and can be safely transported across long distances won’t be compromised in terms of taste or nutritional value. 

Conclusion

Although the term ‘processed food’ has negative connotations, many nutritionists believe in the value of healthy processed food. Better technology has helped create food processing techniques that can prolong the life of perishables, retain flavour, and preserve nutrients.

Consumers simply need to do their research look beyond the marketing material to find food that is both good for their health and convenient to store.