Foods In Packets

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 283, 24 November 1944, Page 17

Foods In Packets

(Written for "The Listener’ by DR.

MURIEL

BELL

Nutritionist to the Health Department)

the question of additional expense of tinned and packeted foods, Here are some figures illustrating the difference in the case of breakfast foods -the cost.per Ib. ranges from 4d for plain oatmeal up to 2/1 for some of the highly-processed ready-to-eat breakfast foods which, incidentally, have lost practically all their vitamin Bl during the course of their manufacture. To understand the reason for this loss, we need to know that, as with the tinning of meat, raising the temperature above boiling point destroys vitamin Bl, so also is it with cereals. The length of time for which the high temperature acts is also a factor. Thus, in making ordinary oatmeal, a certain amount of heat for a short time is necessary in order to make it easier to remove the outer husk. To make rolled oats, heat is applied for a short time. The products are, however, usually still rich in vitamin B1 after these processes. Nor is there any significant loss during the boiling necessary in making porridge. The losses in making bread are similarly small, because the interior of the loaf does not go above boiling point; the crust, however, loses: more. But if the cereal grain is so treated as to swell it, or if it is rolled flat and then browned in an oven, the loss becomes serious. Strangely enough, we hear of demands being made by working men for some of these more expensive foods. Their choice would be less disturbing and paradoxical I: our last article, we touched on

if it were not for the additional fact that the harder the,fvork the more of these vitamin B fdetors they require, In defence of breakfast foods in packets we must, however, say that some of them have very high vitamin B1 con-tent-even some of those that cook quite quickly. Unfortunately, no trade names can be mentioned in such an article as this. That is one reason why it seems desirable to have an analysis set forth on the packet. Another point that must be conceded in favour of packeted cereals is that there is much less likelihood of their being contaminated by weevils or other vermin. Still another is that occasionally people who have an allergy to plain oatmeal or plain wheat products can get along quite well with foods that have had their protein altered by raising it to a high temperature. Thus it comes about that doctors frequently advise a patient to try the effect of ready-to-eat breakfast foods-in certain cases of asthma, eczema, nasal catarrh, colitis, etc. It should be remembered, however, that these foods lack the vitamin Bl present in plain products, But for ordinary everyday use for the great majority of us the plain foods are best. In regard to tinned foods, a point that we should bear in mind is that occasionally the housewife has bad luck with her préserving, and tinned foods then turn out less expensive than one’s own home preserves. It is only when an unusually resistant organism is present

that such an accident happens. Most of us get success with bottling tomatoes by the six-to-ten-minute boiling open-kettle method. Occasionally an organism is present which requires a longer heating period to destroy it. Thus you will notice a slight change in the directions given in the new edition of "Good Nutrition." ,