Question: What exactly are the “processes” underlying “processed foods” and why is organic better?
Is it just a matter of them adding chemicals, or is there something else going on? I’d prefer to eat “natural” foods but am unclear on exactly what happens to foods when they “process” them for freezing, canning, whatever or just making “unnatural” foods like pizza rolls, etc. (I am NOT going to give up pizza rolls under any circumstances.) If there are differences for meats, vegetables, dairy etc. let me know. Thanks!

Answer:

Answer by Annette
Processed food can be as simple as cooking, or freezing such as canned or frozen vegetables. They can still be organic and frozen can still hold most of the nutrients. ORGANIC in food terms means that the raw product itself was grown without pesticides or growth hormones as in some meats–it can still be processed. There are foods that are more processed than others where edible chemicals are added and/or the processing has caused a breakdown in the natural vitamin and mineral content. A good example of processed food is ‘white flour”, where the wheat was processed to the point where all nutrients were removed and then “fortified” to insert some nutrients lost in the processing. he US federal government laxed the organic standards and a product does not have to be 100% organic to claim organic.