AGRICULTURE PRODUCTS

What are processed foods?
Processed food is simply a food that has been altered from its natural state. Sometimes for convenience and sometimes for safety. The methods used include; canning, freezing, refrigeration, dehydration and aseptic processing. Not all processed foods are bad, milk, for an example, would be considered processed because it is pasteurized to kill bacteria and homogenized to keep fats from separating. Raw milk would be a lot better for us but laws prohibit us from attaining it and consuming it. Another healthy example of food processing is frozen vegetables. While fresh may be best, freezing vegetables preserves vitamins and minerals and makes them convenient to cook and eat all year around. Fruit and vegetable juice is also an example of a healthy processed food. In fact, some orange juice is fortified with calcium to make it even more nutritious. Of course, there are a lot of processed foods that are not good for us. Many processed foods are made with trans fats, saturated fats, and large amounts of sodium and sugar. These types of foods should be avoided.

GMO’s: A short form for genetically modified organisms. When certain characteristics of a species have an identified gene location on DNA these genes can then be transferred to other species through a host. The hope is that the positive characteristics of one species can then be transferred to another. For more information about this process please refer to the excellent article in Wikipedia.