My kitchen is the heart of my home. My friends all like to hang out in there instead of in my more spacious living room.
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My kitchen is the heart of my home. My friends all like to hang out in there instead of in my more spacious living room.
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You find them printed on most packaging. Everybody thinks they know what these food labelling words mean – but are they right?Fresh. Natural. Pure. Traditional. Original. Authentic. Homemade. These words are used to describe a wide range of food, from lettuce to energy bars. Like most shoppers I know nothing about food regulations and take their meaning at face value, but I often wonder just how much my food shopping choices are influenced by these words. To me, a “homemade” pie is something created on the kitchen table, while a “fresh” product should have spent no more than a couple of hours in a warehouse. Unrealistic perhaps, but being me, I decided to spend a little time researching what these food labelling words actually mean. I discovered there are copious amounts of food labelling legislation governing the way terms like “natural” and “pure” are used. Needless to say, sometimes the meaning of these words is stretched to the limit for the sake of marketing. There are several reasons why there’s a need more information on our labelling. New foods come on the market which need new preparation methods, such as thawing and microwaving. This pushes the food companies to add even more information to their packaging. New products are marketed all the time, especially pre-packaged convenience foods, all of which battle for our attention. In a marketing war these words are ammunition. Buying food is something that shouldn't be done without some guidance about food labelling, simply because our health is too important to mess about with. Here are the 7 words most commonly used to describe foods, and their basic meanings. To avoid misunderstandings I've quoted from the Food Standards Agency's handbook CRITERIA FOR THE USE OF THE TERMS FRESH, PURE, NATURAL ETC. IN FOOD LABELLING. 1 FRESH The word “Fresh” should be used to describe produce that is sold within a short time after production or harvesting. However, modern distribution and storage methods can significantly increase the time period before there is loss of quality for a product, and it has become increasingly difficult to decide when the term “fresh” is being used legitimately. WARNING! Meat and fish can be labelled as fresh ONLY when they are chilled and not frozen! 2 NATURAL “Natural” means essentially that the product is made of natural ingredients, e.g. ingredients produced by nature, not the work of man or interfered with by man. WARNING! the term natural CANNOT describe foods or ingredients that employ chemicals to change their composition or comprise the products of new technologies, including additives and flavourings that are the product of the chemical industry or extracted by chemical processes. 3 PURE The term “pure” is mostly used on single ingredient foods (e.g. to indicate a single, named variety of rice) or to highlight the quality of ingredients of a food (e.g. “pure butter shortbread” to indicate the butter has not been blended with other fats). 4 TRADITIONAL The word “traditional” should clearly be used to describe a recipe, fundamental formulation or processing method for a product that has existed for a significant period. The ingredients and process used should have been available, substantially unchanged, for that same period. It is within consumer expectations for the product to have been made in a factory. 5 ORIGINAL The term “original” does not imply, necessarily, that a product has remained unchanged for a substantial period of time. It may be applied to newer products on the market. It is used to indicate that a product was the first of its type to be placed on the market. The term is commonly used to describe “plain” or “unflavoured” products where other variants are offered (e.g. “original flavour crisps”) or to indicate the first variant in a series of products. 6 AUTHENTIC This word can be used
7 HOMEMADE In order to accommodate the production of meals and dishes on commercial catering premises, the term “home-made” should be restricted to the preparation of the recipe on the premises, from primary ingredients, in a way that reflects a typical domestic situation. This should not be achieved simply by the assembly of wholly pre-prepared elements, or simple reconstitution from dry base mixes, but must involve some degree of fundamental culinary preparation. As in domestic preparation, it would be legitimate for caterers to use partly-prepared ingredients that are available for domestic use; typical examples could include the use of pre-prepared raw pastry, bakery bread in desserts or stock cubes in sauces. For more information you can download the full text here. CRITERIA FOR THE USE OF THE TERMS FRESH, PURE, NATURAL ETC. IN FOOD LABELLING – Food Standards Agency
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AuthorI love cooking, and when it comes to quality I'm quite fussy. Archives
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