FIVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PROCESSED FOODS
These
days, processed food seems to be associated with either “junk food” or
food additives – things that many people would rather avoid if they
could. Prof Jennie Brand-Miller reminds us that food processing is
nothing new. It’s something our paleolithic (stone age) ancestors were
doing long before the agricultural revolution some 12,000 years ago.
Just imagine all the trial and error that went into discovering how to
leach toxins from plant foods. Perhaps, we should see food processing as
an example of human creativity at its best she suggests.
FOOD PROCESSING IS NOTHING NEW
Stone-grinding
of seeds and leaching of toxins from plant foods have been practised
for thousands of years. Many fruits dried naturally on the bush or tree
(think dates, figs and sultanas) making them ‘shelf stable’ for years.
We know that Australia’s Indigenous people for example collected one
particular variety in large quantities, mashed and shaped them into a
ball and placed them high up in a tree to protect them from animals.
These energy-dense snacks were a safe and reliable treat during the
following season. In “Transforming the Inedible into the Edible,” Anna
Teuchler, Asa Ferrier and Richard Cosgrove describe how the Indigenous
people in far northeast Queensland leached the toxins from rainforest
tree nuts, a dietary staple, several thousand years ago (see Read More).
IT EXTENDS SHELF LIFE
Anyone
who farms even on a small scale in their backyard knows that fruit and
vegetables are seasonal. They ripen in gluts and we give half away. But
being the creative creatures that we are, we developed ways to extend
the storage life of most foods. Sun drying of fruit, fish and seaweeds,
pickling of vegetables in vinegar and brine and salting of meat, were
early processing techniques. We also learned that nitrate salts added to
meat gave them not only longer storage life, but a nice pink colour and
delicious flavour as well. Hams, bacon and salami are still on the menu
made using age-old techniques of processing.
IT KILLS BACTERIA
In time, we learned to bottle
fruit and vegetables, cooking them first, sealing them carefully and
raising the temperature as high as possible to kill bacteria and fungi
that would inevitably contaminate fresh food. Eventually, the food
industry took over from the homemaker, developing more reliable
sterilisation techniques that prevented the growth of botulinum spores.
Botulism was a dreaded phenomenon – just a single lick of the finger was
enough to poison violently and often kill.
IT HELPS US AVOID WASTE
The
chemical and physical processes that are used by the food industry are
more often than not identical to those we use in the kitchen – heating,
toasting, blanching, boiling and freezing, just on a much larger and
more efficient scale. Without modern methods of processing that permit
long-term storage, we would otherwise waste a huge proportion of any
seasonal harvest. The excess food would be thrown away, causing surges
in pests like locusts, mice and rats and creating smelly streets full of
vermin and garbage. And food scarcity, vitamin deficiency and even
death in winter and spring were not uncommon.
IT EXPANDS OUR DIETARY CHOICES
Finally,
where would we be without the creativity of those early farmers who
milled wheat and other grains into flours to make delicious breads,
cakes and biscuits? Dairy farming also made use of lactating cows (and
goats, sheep and camels), who were capable of producing more than enough
milk for ¬their offspring. This highly nutritious product gave rise
through natural selection to whole populations with the ability to
digest lactose, the sugar in milk. And it wasn’t long before early
farmers processed excess milk into forms that could be stored and
accessed in times of scarcity (think cheese and other fermented dairy
products), even by those with lactose intolerance. How dull our diet
would be without yogurt, feta, parmesan and the hundreds of other soft
and hard cheeses we enjoy throughout the year.
WHAT ABOUT ADDITIVES?
In
Australia, we have a relatively short list of permitted food additives
that are governed by strict food laws. They are permitted in specific
foods in specific quantities (not any food, nor any quantity). They
must serve a technological need and must have been assessed for safety
in much the same way as all drugs. Like sun drying, a preservative
lengthens the shelf life of a food. The majority of food additives are
identical to substances that occur in nature and serve the same purpose
(e.g. lecithin in eggs is an emulsifier than keeps water and fats in a
stable emulsion). Only flavours consisting of thousands of molecules
have not been through the rigorous testing of other food additives. The
same applies to the natural flavours we leverage in herbs and spices.
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