Editing Food processing (section)

==Benefits and drawbacks==

===Benefits===
[[File:Processed seafood.jpg|thumb|Processed [[seafood]] – [[fish]], [[squid]], [[prawn]] balls and simulated crab sticks ([[surimi]])]]

Benefits of food processing include toxin removal, preservation, easing marketing and distribution tasks, and increasing food consistency. In addition, it increases yearly availability of many foods, enables transportation of delicate perishable foods across long distances and makes many kinds of foods safe to eat by de-activating spoilage and pathogenic micro-organisms. Modern [[supermarket]]s would not exist without modern food processing techniques, and long voyages would not be possible.

Processed foods are usually less susceptible to early spoilage than fresh foods and are better suited for long-distance transportation from the source to the [[consumer]].<ref name=":1" /> When they were first introduced, some processed foods helped to [[Food security|alleviate food shortages]] and improved the overall nutrition of populations as it made many new foods available to the masses.<ref>{{cite web|last=Laudan |first=Rachel |url=http://www.utne.com/Environment/Fast-Food-Culinary-Ethos.aspx?page=4 |title=In Praise of Fast Food |publisher=UTNE Reader |date=September–October 2010 |access-date=2010-09-24 |quote=Where modern food became available, people grew taller and stronger and lived longer.}}</ref>

Processing can also reduce the incidence of food-borne disease. Fresh materials, such as fresh [[produce]] and raw meats, are more likely to harbour pathogenic micro-organisms (e.g. Salmonella) capable of causing serious illnesses.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

The extremely varied modern diet is only truly possible on a wide scale because of food processing. Transportation of more exotic foods, as well as the elimination of much hard labor gives the modern eater easy access to a wide variety of food unimaginable to their ancestors.<ref>{{cite web|last=Laudan |first=Rachel |url=http://www.utne.com/Environment/Fast-Food-Culinary-Ethos.aspx?page=4 |title=In Praise of Fast Food |publisher=UTNE Reader |date=September–October 2010 |access-date=2010-09-24 |quote=If we fail to understand how scant and monotonous most traditional diets were, we can misunderstand the “ethnic foods” we encounter in cookbooks, at restaurants, or on our travels.}}</ref>

The act of processing can often improve the taste of food significantly.<ref>{{cite web|last=Laudan |first=Rachel |url=http://www.utne.com/Environment/Fast-Food-Culinary-Ethos.aspx?page=4 |title=In Praise of Fast Food |publisher=UTNE Reader |date=September–October 2010 |access-date=2010-09-24 |quote=For our ancestors, natural was something quite nasty. Natural often tasted bad. Fresh meat was rank and tough, fresh fruits inedibly sour, fresh vegetables bitter.}}</ref>

Mass production of food is much cheaper overall than individual production of meals from raw ingredients. Therefore, a large [[profit (economics)|profit]] potential exists for the manufacturers and suppliers of processed food products. Individuals may see a benefit in [[convenience food|convenience]], but rarely see any direct financial cost benefit in using processed food as compared to home preparation.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

Processed food freed people from the large amount of time involved in preparing and cooking "natural" unprocessed foods.<ref>{{cite web|last=Laudan |first=Rachel |url=http://www.utne.com/Environment/Fast-Food-Culinary-Ethos.aspx?page=4 |title=In Praise of Fast Food |publisher=UTNE Reader |date=September–October 2010 |access-date=2010-09-24}}</ref>  The increase in free time allows people much more choice in life style than previously allowed. In many families the adults are working away from home and therefore there is little time for the preparation of food based on fresh ingredients. The [[food industry]] offers products that fulfill many different needs: e.g. fully prepared [[ready meal]]s that can be heated up in the [[microwave oven]] within a few minutes.

Modern food processing also improves the quality of life for people with allergies, [[diabetes|diabetics]], and other people who cannot consume some common food elements.{{cn|date=September 2024}} Food processing can also add extra nutrients such as [[vitamin]]s.

===Drawbacks===
[[File:Meat packages in a Roman supermarket.jpg|thumb|[[Meat]] packages in a Roman [[supermarket]]]]

Processing of food can decrease its nutritional density. The amount of nutrients lost depends on the food and processing method. For example, heat destroys [[Vitamin C#Sources|vitamin C]]. Therefore, canned fruits possess less vitamin C than their fresh alternatives. The [[USDA]] conducted a study of nutrient retention in 2004, creating a table of foods, levels of preparation, and nutrition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/80400525/Data/retn/retn06.pdf|title = USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6|date = Dec 2007|website = USDA|publisher = USDA.}}</ref>

New research highlighting the importance to human health of a rich microbial environment in the intestine indicates that abundant food processing (not fermentation of foods) endangers that environment.<ref>{{cite web |author=Michael Pollan |title=Some of my Best Friends are Germs |work=[[The New York Times]] Magazine |date=15 May 2013 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/magazine/say-hello-to-the-100-trillion-bacteria-that-make-up-your-microbiome.html?hp}}</ref>