Product Code Database
Convenience food (also called tertiary processed food) is food that is commercially food preparation (often through food processing) for ease of consumption, and is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily portable, have a long shelf life, or offer a combination of such convenient traits. Convenience foods include ready-to-eat dry products, frozen food such as , shelf-stable food, prepared mixes such as cake mix, and snack food. Food scientists now consider most of these products to be ultra-processed foods and link them to poor health outcomes.
Bread, cheese, salted food and other prepared foods have been sold for thousands of years, but these typically require a much lower level of industrial processing, as reflected in systems such as the Nova classification. Other types of food were developed with improvements in food technology. Types of convenience foods can vary by country and geographic region. Some convenience foods have received criticism due to concerns about nutritional content and how their packaging may increase solid waste in landfills. Various methods are used to reduce the unhealthy aspects of commercially produced food and fight childhood obesity.
Convenience food is commercially prepared for ease of consumption. Products designated as convenience food are often sold as hot, ready-to-eat dishes; as room-temperature, shelf-stable products; or as refrigerated or frozen food products that require minimal preparation (typically just heating). Convenience foods have also been described as foods that have been created to "make them more appealing to the consumer." Convenience foods and restaurants are similar in that they save time.Ensminger 1994, p. 463. They differ in that restaurant food is ready to eat, whilst convenience food usually requires rudimentary preparation. Both typically cost more money and less time compared to home cooking from scratch.
Canning was developed in the 19th century, primarily for military use, and became more popular during World War I. The expansion of canning depended significantly upon the development of canneries for producing large quantities of cans very cheaply. Before the 1850s, making a can for food required a skilled tinsmith; afterwards, an unskilled laborer, operating a can-making machine, could produce 15 times as many cans each day.
One of the earliest industrial-scale processed foods was meatpacking. After the invention of a system of in 1878, animals could be raised, slaughtered, and butchered hundreds (later thousands) of miles or kilometers away from the consumer.
in World War II contributed to the development of and the frozen food industry.Ensminger 1994, p. 465. Modern convenience food saw its beginnings in the United States during the period that began after World War II. Many of these products had their origins in military-developed foods designed for storage longevity and ease of preparation in the battle field. Following the war, several commercial food companies had leftover manufacturing facilities, and some of these companies created new freeze-dried and canned foods for home use. Like many product introductions, not all were successful—convenience food staples such as fish sticks and canned were counterbalanced by failures such as ham sticks and -in-a-can. However, this new focus on convenience foods and the use of technology in the kitchen alleviated labor that was traditionally carried out by women, and therefore meals that could be prepared quickly enabled women to exercise more control over their time.
As of the 2010s due to increased preference for fresh, "natural foods", whole food, and organic food and health concerns the acceptability of processed food to consumers in the United States was dropping and the reputation of major packaged food brands had been damaged. Firms responded by offering "healthier" formulations and acquisition of brands with better reputations.
These products are often sold in portion-controlled, single-serving packaging designed for portability.
Packaged baked goods mixes typically use chemical (commonly referred to as baking powderJohn Brodie, John Godber "Bakery Processes, Chemical Leavening Agents" in Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology 2001, John Wiley & Sons. ), for a quick, reliable result, avoiding the requirement for time-consuming skilled labor and the climate control needed for traditional yeast breads. These packaged mixes produce a type of quickbread.
Examples include , macaroni and cheese, brownie mixes, and gravy mixes. Some packaged mixes may have a high saturated fat content.
In the Republic of Ireland, eaten by busy workers became a symbol of the Celtic Tiger economic boom.
In Japan, onigiri (rice balls) are a popular convenience food that dates for millennia — by the Heian period these were established enough to be mentioned in Heian literature. Additional Japanese convenience foods include prepared tofu (bean curd), prepared packages of seafood and Instant soup ramen noodles.
In Philippines, ready-to-consume packages of traditional Filipino dishes such as sisig, Philippine adobo, and Kaldereta are popular products offered by convenience stores across the country.
Canned tuna packed in oil is a convenience food in the Solomon Islands.
In Russia, frozen pelmeni, a type of meat dumplings, adopted from Uralic peoples such as Komi peoples, Mansi people and Udmurts, Dal Dictionary on-line derives the etymology of pel'men' from pel'=ear and nan'=bread in Komi and Mansi (Vogul) languages. This may be why pelmeni are called uszka ("ears") in Poland. are known from at least the 18th century, and industrially produced and prepacked pelmeni are a staple of the supermarket freezer sections.
A survey in 1984 attributed over one-third of funds spent by consumers for food in Britain to be for convenience food purchases.
In most developed countries, 80% of consumed salt comes from industry-prepared food (5% come from natural salt; 15% comes from salt added during cooking or eating). Health effects of salt concentrate on sodium and depend in part on how much is consumed. A single serving of many convenience foods contains a significant portion of the recommended daily allowance of sodium. Manufacturers are concerned that if the taste of their product is not optimized with salt, it will not sell as well as competing products. Tests have shown that some popular packaged foods depend on significant amounts of salt for their palatability.
In response to the attention, in April 2010 a coalition of sixteen manufacturers all agreed to reduce salt levels in foods sold in the United States under a program based on a similar effort in the United Kingdom. However, the initiative has met with resistance from some manufacturers, who claim that processed foods require the current high levels of salt to remain appetizing and to mask undesirable effects of food processing such as "warmed-over flavor". The coalition expanded its mission in May 2010 by announcing that it intends to reduce the amount of calories in foods. By introducing lower calorie foods, changing product recipes and reducing portion sizes, the coalition stated that it expected to reduce the caloric content of foods by more than 1.5 trillion calories in total by 2012.
Many low-income families struggle with buying fresh fruits and vegetables and nutritional meals for their families because of the price of the products. These families are most often located in and fresh food is not readily available in their community. Thus, families resort to buying food that is high in fat, sugar, and salt because these highly processed options are inexpensive. These highly processed foods make up a significant portion of unhealthy convenience foods.
|
|
