Nutrition: Fresh & Local vs. Frozen

Food scientists & farmers & "eat local" advocates: I need your help in settling a friendly argument.

I have a friend who is something of a health nut. He is not concerned about taste, flavor, or eating for pleasure. He primarily focuses on the content of the food he eats: the types of fats, vitamins, fiber content, etc. He is dilligent and part of me does envy his dedication to his health and his careful study of what he puts into his body.

Now that farmer's market season is in full swing, I have been advocating that he pick up some of the wonderful local produce that is available:

"Why?", he asks.

"Because it tastes better..."

"I dont' care about that", he interrupts (this puzzles me but I've learned to ignore it).

"...and it's healthier, better for the environment....", I continue.

He interrupts again, "It's not healthier".

He says that he gets most of his produce from frozen sources which are flash frozen very quickly after harvesting, locking in their nutritional content.

I still contend that produce picked within a day or two of purchase and eaten equally as quickly is one of the best things you can eat.

Is he correct? Is eating frozen food the best way to maximize the nutritional value of produce? Are we splitting hairs here? Anyone have any input?

Best,
Michael,
who just enjoyed a delicious bowl of sweet Michigan blueberries for breakfast. Their cancer-fighting antioxidants are already hard at work.

eatchicago wrote:"Because it tastes better..."

"I dont' care about that", he interrupts (this puzzles me but I've learned to ignore it).

"...and it's healthier, better for the environment....", I continue.

He interrupts again, "It's not healthier".

If you ask me, two-out-of-three ain't bad!

I won't pretend to know the science behind this, but I can't imagine that produce sheds its nutritive value so quickly.

Ah, google:

Eating vegetables—the simple truths - Brief Article Running & FitNews - Find Articles this one acknowledges that frozen can beat fresh, but when they say "fresh" they mean "grocery-store-fresh", not "just-picked-yesterday-fresh".

On the other hand, I found this "Fresh vs. Frozen" from Restaurant Business (South Africa). It reads:

...While one may believe that fresh vegetables are more nutritious than frozen, several studies have revealed that the opposite is the case.”

According to Barnett, one such study in the United States compared the Vitamin A and C content of frozen vegetables to fresh under typical storage conditions. Fresh green beans held for three days in a display case and three days in a refrigerator were compared to frozen green beans. Frozen vegetables retained twice the original amount of vitamin C than fresh green beans after storage. Similar studies have been conducted in Europe that also reveals nutritional deterioration in fresh vegetables, particularly those held in ambient temperature conditions.

Des Sparks of Seaworld tends to agree. “Frozen vegetables are consistently better all the time, as there are no outside factors,” he says. “Fresh produce is superior to the frozen variety, but only if it’s picked and transported to the user every day. Frozen vegetables on the other hand are ideal for the foodservice industry because you can get produce which wouldn’t normally be available in that specific season. Although maintaining the cold chain is a challenge, frozen produce is much better than fresh vegetables when looking from a quality and handling perspective.”

(there's quite a bit more in the article, but not as much about nutrition)

So I think your friend may be slanting a bit towards thinking that market produce is the same as grocery produce.

Fresh is best, frozen is 2nd best.

National Center for Home Food Preservation wrote:Freezing cannot improve the flavor or texture of any food, but when properly done it can preserve most of the quality of the fresh product. Knowing how long a particular food can be stored in the freezer is not as simple as it sounds.

The storage times listed below are approximate months of storage for some food products assuming the food has been prepared and packaged correctly and stored in the freezer at or below 0°F. For best quality use the shorter storage times. After these times, the food should still be safe, just lower in quality.

You can follow the link to a table with optimal storage procedures. On commercially frozen products you usually have very little information on when they were processed. It is entirely possible your friend consumes frozen food that is not optimal.

I have a sister who could also be considered a health nut. If your friend is remotely like my sister, they are pretty unshakable in their beliefs. It is not unusual for my sister to begin a response with, "The World Health Organization says ..." I then hunt for an opportunity to get off the phone.

Regards,

eatchicago wrote:Food scientists & farmers & "eat local" advocates: I need your help in settling a friendly argument.

I'm none of the above (except the third – yet only partly), but what the heck, I'll add my 3¢

eatchicago wrote:"Because it tastes better..."

"I dont' care about that", he interrupts (this puzzles me but I've learned to ignore it).

"...and it's healthier, better for the environment....", I continue.

He interrupts again, "It's not healthier".

If taste be ignored, IMO your friend is not wrong to get flash frozen products. However his claim that it (fresh) is not healthier may not be valid a) for all foods b) if he doesn't know the practices of the producers (which one may for local products)
Some things – especially if they are far from local may be better frozen – inherently so and/or simply because of deterioration of the (unfrozen) products over transport (time). Some vegetables I get frozen – spinach for example – but that's not for use in a salad (as I do care about taste and texture). I buy some fish frozen – because it is convenient (I can have fish anytime) – but of course it needs to be handled accordingly.
Freezing has a lot of benefits – for some items – it is certainly no panacea. If one has access to (truly) fresh items, that's always better.

As far as blueberries go, possibly your friend could get the health benefit from frozen ones. Put it in a blender with other high-impact nutritional goodies and what not. Though I picture him holding his nose and gulping down things while you savour your eats with a smile on your face.

May the deeper peace of good taste dance on your tongue.

I read that frozen spinach is healthier than fresh. I have a great healthy recipe for frozen spinach:

2 garlic cloves, minced
2 packages of chopped frozen spinach
2 tbs olive oil
1 can white kidney beans
1/4 cup chicken broth
pinch accent and pepper to taste

cook the garlic in the oil before it browns
heat the spinach in microwave, then add to oil and garlic
heat for a couple minutes, then add the chicken broth and beans
add your accent and pepper and enjoy

Very good and very healthy

Also note that the preparation can affect the nutrients in a food. Basically, I think it's impossible to make a blanket statement that one is "healthier" than the other. There are too many factors in play.

Interesting discussion. Thanks for the input, everyone.

I feel as though we're probably splitting hairs, since both ways of eating are plenty healthy.

I prefer to err on the side of fresh, whenever possible.

Best,
Michael

If you want, I can dig up an article in the NYTimes where Harold McGee also argues the frozen angle.

I would tend to agree that frozen can often be better for the reasons cited above, but I do think there are a few other things to consider.

First, you do lose some utility in frozen stuff. You can freeze spinach well, but you cannot make a salad outta that frozen spinach.

Second, perhaps your friend is interested in other enviromental factors. For instance, is the frozen food organic? On top of that, a lot of frozen food is harvested/picked in far off parts of the world, so there is the Al Gore costs.

Third, while taste may not be paramount to your friend, you do have other advantages in local produce. You have way more types of produce--I was at Green City today, and the range of produce was amazing. On top of that, you have varieties within varieties, take the types of beets out there today. You just cannot equal that in supermarket produce.

Anyways, the best solution, I think, is, if you have the space and a few extra bucks, is to do what we recently did. We bought an extra freezer. We have been madly stocking away. Fresh, local, and frozen.

Rob

Michael,
I agree that in the summer, Farmers Market Produce is far superior to any other.

In the winter other than lettuces, I go strictly frozen, it is less costly and better tasting than supermarket.

As a nutritionist, fresh if locally grown and picked and not held for long storage, it will certainly be better. However, having said that, there are many factors that go into the nutritional or health quality of the food. Use of pesticides, herbacides and the type of soil can all effect produce. Best advice for health eat lots of fruits and vegetables. For taste go to the farmers market and buy in season from local producers. In winter go with frozen or canned as in the case of tomatoes.
Paulette

He says that he gets most of his produce from frozen sources which are flash frozen very quickly after harvesting, locking in their nutritional content.

Yes, flash-frozen by an evil conglomerate using Balinese child slave labor whom it hooks on cigarettes and Nintendo, forcing them to moonlight as ninja assassins for The League of Chaos. Who are the world's leading producers of Trans-Fat, incidentally.

Where, each strawberry you buy at Green City Market has been read bedtime stories by a kindly, Grant Wood-like Jeffersonian-democrat farmer who in his spare time writes spare, beautiful novels which will make Cormac MacCarthy look punk if they're ever published. (Admittedly, he writes them by whale oil, which means once a year he must kill a whale and throw away 90% of it to get the oil, but that's much better than taking electricity from The Man.)

Thanks, Mike. That's exactly the script I need to win the argument.

MAKING frozen vegetables hip is a daunting task, but B&G Foods thinks it has just the guy to do it. The company is bringing back the Jolly Green Giant after a long hiatus to introduce new recipes. But his comeback comes with a twist. The campaign will initially seek to create a sense of mystery by not showing the giant.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/04/busin ... -ipad&_r=0