This means that, even if you are not vegan yourself or even considering becoming one, it’s likely that someone you know or meet in the future will be and it’s important to be knowledgeable and accommodating of their diet. In this article, we will explain what you can eat in a vegan diet and provide an ingredient list and example recipes for vegan cooking. We will also explain the benefits of becoming vegan and how to safely balance a vegan diet. 

What Can Vegans Eat?

Like vegetarians, vegans do not eat any meat or fish, however, unlike vegetarians they also don’t eat any products that are made by animals. This includes dairy, eggs and anything else that is made through what they consider to be the exploitation of animals. This also includes insects, like bees, meaning most vegans do not eat honey. 

Veganism is more than just a diet, it’s a lifestyle, and vegans try not to buy any products that come from the exploitation of animals. Examples include clothing made from leather, suede and in some cases wool, as well as cosmetics that were tested on animals. 

A vegan diet consists primarily of plant-based foods in either their natural, unprocessed form, or processed into other forms, such as meat substitutes. Like any diet, a vegan diet can vary, often based on the health outcome that the individual wants to achieve. Some of the different types of diet that a vegan may follow include: 

Raw vegan diet. People on this diet only eat raw plant foods, such as raw nuts and seeds, uncooked fruit and vegetables and soaked grains. This is because they believe that the process of cooking food breaks down the nutrients in the food, meaning it has fewer health benefits. While this is true to an extent, cooking plant-based foods can also increase the amounts of healthy nutrients in some foods, such as tomatoes.

Vegan keto diet. This is a low-carb, high-fat diet primarily followed for weight loss. A regular keto diet usually involves high quantities of animal-derived foods as they are high in fat, while a vegan keto diet features high-fat plant foods like avocados, nuts and seeds and oils. High-carb foods like bread, rice and pasta, as well as high-sugar fruit and vegetables are excluded from this diet. 

Vegan diabetic diet. This diet aims to reduce carbs, particularly refined carbs and is primarily undertaken by diabetics who need to control their blood sugar levels. Refined carbs cause blood sugar to spike, so this diet focuses on foods that stabilise blood sugar. This includes high-fibre foods like beans and legumes, high protein foods like tofu and healthy fats like avocado, nuts and seeds and oil. 

High protein vegan diet. This diet may be followed by people who are very active, such as athletes, as it is high in protein. Protein helps to build and repair the muscles and is a good source of energy. One concern people may have when going vegan is the loss of protein from animal-derived foods. However, there are lots of high-protein vegan foods such as beans, tofu, seitan, oats, nuts and seeds. Vegans can also use vegan protein supplements like protein powder made from plant sources. 

There are other types of specialised vegan diets to suit different health needs, such as the vegan anti-inflammatory diet, the alkaline vegan diet, the mediterranean vegan diet and the low-carb vegan diet. 

However, it’s important to note that not all vegan diets are created equal in terms of their health benefits. If a vegan diet is too restrictive in the types of food you can eat, this can cause you to miss out on vital nutrients your body needs to function properly. You need to eat a wide range of plant-based foods to ensure that you’re gaining enough nutrients as different nutrients come from different types of food. 

If you become deficient in a certain nutrient this can have a harmful impact on your body. However, it is completely achievable to get all of the nutrients your body needs within a vegan diet. The Vegan Society provides a Vegan Eatwell Guide that outlines exactly how much of each food group you should be eating to gain the nutrients you need.

If you do decide to follow a restrictive vegan diet, such as the vegan keto diet or the raw vegan diet, you should consult with your doctor before doing so. Your doctor can also test to determine if you have a deficiency and, if you do, they may suggest changes to your diet or provide you with a nutrient supplement. 

Benefits of a Vegan Diet

Research from the University of Oxford shows that if everyone in the world was vegan, over eight million human lives could be saved each year by 2050, due to reduced consumption of red meat, alongside increased fruit and vegetable intake and reduced calories. This would result in fewer people being overweight or obese and the health problems that stem from this. 

The research also showed that greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture would be reduced by two-thirds if everyone adopted a vegan diet. So, while the mistreatment of animals through farming is a primary reason that many people become vegan, there are also clear health and environmental benefits to a vegan diet. 

Cutting meat and dairy out of your diet is proven to be the best single way to reduce your environmental impact, due to the damage that animal farming does to the earth. Additionally, the loss of wildlife for agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction. 

Research shows that even the meat and dairy products with the lowest environmental impact still have a significantly more damaging effect than the least sustainably grown fruit, vegetables and cereals.

A vegan diet can also have significant health benefits, such as promoting weight maintenance, when followed appropriately. Plant-based foods are higher in fibre than animal-derived foods and fibre can help to make you feel fuller for longer, reducing snacking and supporting weight loss or maintenance. Additionally, animal-derived foods are higher in fat than natural plant-based foods, so switching them out can also be beneficial for weight loss.

However, some vegan foods are healthier than others and if you eat a lot of ultra-processed vegan foods that contain unhealthy additives, then you may not see the weight loss benefits mentioned above. It’s important that your vegan diet has balance and that you mostly eat natural, nutritious plant-based ingredients. 

A vegan diet may also reduce your risk of developing certain diseases. Research shows that meat and fish contain certain toxins linked to diseases including cancer. In fact, processed meat is called as a group 1 carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation, the same classification as cigarettes, alcohol and asbestos. Certain fish also contain toxic mercury.

A plant-based diet has been proven to help control blood sugar levels, reducing your risk of Type-2 diabetes. It can also help to manage blood pressure and cholesterol, lowering your likelihood of developing cardiovascular diseases, as plant foods are far lower in salt and saturated fats than animal-derived food. 

Other health benefits associated with a vegan diet include healthier skin due to the quantity of vitamin C and E in plant-based foods, as well as anti-inflammatory qualities as plant foods are rich in antioxidants. This reduces your risk of developing conditions like arthritis. 

A vegan diet can also improve your gut health. Research is really just getting started into gut health but there is evidence to show that the state of your gut can affect both your physical and mental wellbeing. The food we eat changes our gut biome and a vegan diet has been shown to increase the variety of microbes living there. The more diverse your microbiome, the better equipped it is to fight different diseases. 

Finally, there are the benefits to animal wellbeing that come from adopting a vegan diet. While you may think going vegetarian would be enough to counteract the animal maltreatment involved in animal farming, in actual fact, mass dairy and egg farming can be just as harmful. In the UK, more than two million land animals are killed every day for farming. 

In the egg industry, male chicks, which do not lay eggs, are often killed as soon as they hatch, either by being thrown into a grinder or being gassed to death. The hens who lay the eggs are forced to live in ‘enriched’ cages, thought to be more ethical than battery cages, but that in fact allow the hens less than an A4 paper sized space to roam. These hens are usually then killed within a year, despite their natural lifespan being seven years. 

This is just scratching the surface of the mistreatment of animals that results from animal farming and similar practices are reflected in the dairy industry. Adopting a vegan diet reduces demand for animal-derived products, meaning less animals are bred for farming and slaughter. It can also reduce commercial fishing practices, reducing the likelihood that certain fish and seafood species will become extinct in the future. 

Research from the Humane League UK suggests that going vegan could save one animal per person, per day. While this number may seem small, the more people who switch to a vegan diet, or even just buy fewer animal-derived products, the more animals will be saved as demand shrinks. 

Whatever your reason for considering veganism, there are a number of tangible benefits that would make your effort worthwhile.

Vegan Food List

As a vegan, you need not miss out on any of the foods that you know and love and your new diet may open your eyes to ingredients you’ve never tried before. You also shouldn’t be missing out on any of the nutrients that your body needs. 

We have provided a list below of some of the most essential nutrients that your body needs to function properly and the vegan foods that they can be found in. You should try to include as many of these food groups as possible in your regular diet: 

Calcium: Soy foods, including tofu and soy milk, legumes, almonds and brazil nuts, seeds, including tahini, a sesame seed paste, chia and flax seeds, dark leafy greens, raw figs, oranges and berries. 

Vitamin D: Mushrooms, fortified tofu, plant milks including soy, almond and rice milk, fortified breakfast cereal, fortified orange juice. 

Vitamin B12: This does not come from fruit or vegetables, so in a vegan diet it must be eaten primarily in foods fortified with B12. This includes some plant milks, soy products and breakfast cereals, as well as nutritional yeast fortified with B12. 

Iron: beans and lentils, nuts, dried fruit, leafy greens including spinach and chard, tofu or tempeh, blackstrap molasses (a type of syrup). 

Omega-3 fatty acid: Nuts and seeds, plant oils, leafy greens, beans, algaes including seaweed, spirulina, nori and chlorella.

In addition to these foods, a vegan diet should also include a large quantity of fruit and vegetables, legumes and pulses and vegan carbohydrates like bread, rice and pasta. These will provide a good range of nutrients and provide long-lasting energy. 

You can find a more detailed vegan grocery list to use when you next go shopping in our article ‘A Vegan Grocery List – 50 Ideas for a Healthy Vegan Kitchen’. You can also learn more about how to achieve a nutritionally balanced diet in our article, here. 

Some people may be reluctant to adopt a vegan diet as they worry that it’s too restrictive and that they will no longer be able to eat their favourite foods or meals. However, there are now vegan alternatives to most animal-derived foods, with this number increasing as more people switch to a vegan diet and the demand for vegan products increases. 

Some examples of vegan alternatives to animal-derived foods include: 

• Milk: there are a variety of vegan milks to choose from made from different plant-based ingredients, such as oats, soya or almonds. They will taste slightly different depending on what they are made from but most can be used in the same way that dairy milk is. These milks do not contain lactose which can be beneficial for people suffering from lactose intolerance. 
• Cheese: vegan cheese is usually made from nuts like cashews and vegetable oil, with flavourings added to make it ‘cheesy’. There are vegan alternatives to many non-vegan cheeses, including cheddar, mozzarella, blue cheeses and more. 
• Meat: you can now find plant-based versions of most meats. Just a few examples include bacon made from pea protein, jackfruit pulled pork and chicken nuggets made using soya. You can also get vegan fish alternatives, such as salmon made from wheat protein and vegan sushi. 
• Mayonnaise: vegan mayonnaise is usually made from vegan milk such as soy milk, rather than eggs, mixed with vegetable oil. 
• Eggs: vegan egg alternatives can be made from different ingredients, depending on the kind of eggs you want. You can buy vegan ‘scrambled eggs’ made from aquafaba (chickpea water) or use flavoured tofu as a scrambled egg substitute. In baking, eggs can be substituted for cornstarch and water or mashed banana. Thanks to much experimenting in the kitchen, there are now even vegan recipes for making fried and boiled eggs. 
• Honey: there are lots of plant-based alternatives to honey, including syrups made from fruits like dates or plants like agave. Maple syrup is also naturally vegan. 

This is just a small selection of the vegan alternatives to non-vegan foods on offer today and the selection continues to grow as more people buy vegan products. At the same time, the number and variety of vegan offerings in restaurants and fast food chains is also increasing, with most fast food restaurants beginning to offer vegan versions of their bestsellers. 

While the range of vegan alternatives is exciting and may encourage you to switch up your diet, it’s important to make sure that if you do adopt a vegan diet, you do not rely too heavily on ‘vegan junk foods’. These are highly processed foods that contain a lot of salt, sugar and fat and can include some of the foods mentioned above, such as the meat substitutes. 

You should try to focus on cooking your own meals with natural ingredients, rather than reaching for processed ready meals or too many meat substitutes. Below, we have provided some suggestions for simple vegan recipes that you can try incorporating into your weekly meal plan. 

• Vegan chilli. There are lots of vegan alternatives to mince meat that you could use in a vegan chilli or bolognese, including crumbled tofu, lentils or one of the many vegan mince substitutes on offer in supermarkets today. You can add lots of vegetables to a chilli to bulk it out and make it as nutritious as possible and even add vegan cheese, nutritional yeast and vegan sour cream on top for added flavour.
• Butternut squash risotto. Risotto is an excellent versatile vegan meal as it provides energy and you can essentially add whatever you like to it. Nutritional yeast can be used to thicken up the risotto and make it more saucy and you can use vegan milk and butter in place of dairy products. If you make a butternut risotto, you can roast the butternut seeds to use as a crunchy, protein packed topping. 
• Creamy mushroom pasta. Seeing a vegan recipe described as ‘creamy’ may be surprising, but you can make a fairly simple creamy vegan sauce using raw cashews, nutritional yeast and plant-based milk. You can then add whatever vegan seasonings you like to the sauce, including vegan parmesan, as well as vegetables or proteins like tofu. In this case, we suggest adding mushrooms for a source of vitamin D. 
• Aubergine and udon stir fry. Stir fry is one of the quickest and easiest meals to create and uses basic ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen and can be packed full of whatever vegetables you have lying around. You can also add extra protein by adding marinated tofu to the mix. Why not try out our recipe for aubergine and udon stir fry, here. 
• Vegan brownies. While milk chocolate and white chocolate aren’t vegan, as they contain dairy milk, dark chocolate usually is, so you can use it to make vegan brownies. However, be sure to check the label just in case it includes any non-vegan ingredients. You can replace the eggs in brownies with flax seeds and water and use vegan butter and cocoa powder, which is vegan. 

You can find more vegan recipe inspiration on the BBC Good Food Website, here. 

Looking to Learn More?

Our Nutrition and Healthy Eating course teaches you about the importance of a healthy and nutritious diet for your overall wellbeing. It gives you the knowledge you need to establish and maintain a nutritious diet, whether you’re vegan, vegetarian or a meat eater.

Tips For Vegans

Switching to a vegan diet, particularly if you are going from eating meat and animal products, can be daunting. However, there are some simple tips to make the transition easier and to ensure that you maintain a healthy and nutritious vegan diet. 

1. Fill your plate with natural ingredients. 

As mentioned previously, while it may feel easier to opt for the vegan alternative to your favourite snack, these processed treats can have a negative impact on your health. 

Make sure to eat these foods in moderation and focus on including whole, unprocessed plant-based foods in your diet as these are the most nutrient dense and will make you feel the best long term. Whole plant-based foods are often much cheaper than processed vegan alternatives, too, meaning you’ll save money by eating this way. 

2. Plan before you shop. 

If you’re new to a vegan diet and aren’t familiar with many vegan recipes yet, deciding what to buy at the supermarket can be overwhelming. If you take time to research and plan the meals that you’re going to eat for the week and make a shopping list of the ingredients you’ll need, it’ll make it much easier to do the weekly shop. It will also help to ensure you don’t buy any non-vegan ingredients by accident or buy ingredients that you don’t end up using. 

3. Check the labels.

This will help to ensure that the plant-based foods you eat contain the nutrients your body needs. Switching to a vegan diet after eating animal products can mean that you lose out on some of the vital nutrients that animal products are rich in. 

However, you can still get these nutrients in a vegan diet, you may just need to think a little more carefully about what you eat. The easiest way to know if a food product is vegan is to look for a ‘Suitable for Vegans’ label, however, looking at the listed allergens can also help. 

Keep an eye out for the following ingredients, as these mean that the product is not vegan: 

• Casein.
• Lactose. 
• Whey. 
• Collagen. 
• Keratin.
• Aspic. 

Some additives are also derived from animals, including E120, a red food colouring produced by crushing beetles. 

4. Take your time. 

The most important tip for anyone looking to transition to a vegan diet is not to rush into things. Completely changing your diet overnight can be a real struggle and this could lead you to think you aren’t cut out for it. 

If this is the case, why not try making gradual changes to your current diet. For example, introduce vegan alternatives to some of the vegan foods you already eat. You could switch out your dairy milk for a vegan alternative. There are lots of different plant-based milks on offer with different flavour profiles, so finding one that you like could take time. 

You could also try switching out one of your daily or weekly meals for a vegan recipe, gradually increasing this number over time as you find more recipes that you like. Remember, every substitute you make will have a positive impact. 

You could also try a challenge like Veganuary to help you decide if the vegan lifestyle is for you. This is a challenge that requires you to eat a vegan diet for the whole of January and is a good way to introduce yourself to the diet. You could even use social media to join dedicated pages where people share their vegan experiences, tips and recipes. 

If you are someone who currently eats meat and sees veganism as a huge change, you could always start by trying out a vegetarian diet, meaning you keep eating animal-derived products but give up meat. This can then ease you more gently into the vegan lifestyle. You can find out more about a vegetarian diet in our article ‘A Vegetarian Diet: What Can I Eat & What are the Benefits?’ 

Whether you decide to make the switch all at once, or introduce gradual substitutions to the animal-derived foods you normally eat, a vegan diet has undeniable benefits for animal welfare, the environment and your health. If you do decide to make the switch, it’s important that you keep your diet varied and nutritious so your body can function properly and keep you strong and healthy. 

Further Reading:

• 10 Vegan Myths and Facts
• Vegan Food Products: What are the Labelling Requirements?
• Sustainable Food Practices: Choices & Importance
• Nutrition and Healthy Eating Training Course

The post A Vegan Diet: Benefits & Meal Ideas appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

As these numbers increase, so too does the sharing of facts and information about veganism. There are countless myths and misconceptions about being vegan, many of which relate to how healthily you can live – from whether or not vegans can get enough protein to whether they can or can’t eat certain foods.

In this article, we’ll look at ten common myths and explain the facts, to help expand your understanding of what it really means to be vegan.

This article covers the following topics:

• What is a vegan diet?
• 10 common myths and facts about veganism
  • Myth 1: Vegan food is too expensive
  • Myth 2: Veganism is an easy way to lose weight
  • Myth 3: Vegans can’t get enough protein
  • Myth 4: Vegans can’t get enough calcium
  • Myth 5: Vegans can’t get enough nutrients and vitamins
  • Myth 6: A vegan diet is too restrictive
  • Myth 7: You will always be hungry and tired on a vegan diet
  • Myth 8: You cannot be vegan when pregnant
  • Myth 9: Vegan products are safe for those with food allergies
  • Myth 10: Vegan and plant-based are the same thing

Use the above links to jump to a certain section of the article.

What is a Vegan Diet?

A vegan diet, also often referred to as a plant-based diet, excludes all animal-based foods and anything animal-derived. This refers to all types of meat, including fish and any parts of animals used in food, dairy produce like milk and cheese, eggs from any type of animal, and anything that comes from insects like carmine (crushed insects) and bee honey.

A vegan diet is not the same as a vegetarian, pescatarian, or flexitarian diet, as these allow the consumption of some quantity of animal-based foods or derivatives.

Being vegan also extends beyond food choices. The Vegan Society’s definition of veganism states that:

“Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude – as far as is possible and practicable – all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment.”

Although the Vegan Society was officially formed in 1944, evidence of people avoiding animal products can be traced back over 2,000 years. 1806 marks the earliest recorded case when people publicly objected to eating eggs and dairy.

Over the decades since then, an increasing number of people have adopted veganism, and in that time, we have gained a better understanding of how to live on a plant-based diet. However, there has also been a growing amount of misinformation and myths.

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10 Common Myths and Facts About Veganism

Myth 1: “Vegan food is too expensive”

One of the most prevalent myths surrounding veganism is that it isn’t accessible to everyone. The truth is that, just like any diet, plant-based eating is only expensive if you buy a lot of quick-to-eat processed foods, ready-made meals and products from vegan-specific brands. This is particularly the case for vegan foods that are direct substitutes and are designed to cut down cooking time.

The reality is that there are so many vegan foods and ingredients that are cheap and affordable in the UK, especially if the diet is centred around cheaper foods like certain fruits, vegetables, grains and beans.

With good planning, a vegan diet can be affordable and even cheaper than one that includes animal products.

It can certainly present challenges to some people, however. For example, low-income households and those who don’t have a lot of time to cook may rely on quick meals that are more expensive in the long run.

It’s also important to keep in mind that a huge majority of the agricultural subsidies that farmers receive from the government go towards animal produce, as there is such a demand. This is why you’ll often see a frozen burger cost less than a fresh punnet of fruit. As Surge Activism states in reference to DEFRA:

“Around 90% of the annual profit of farmers who graze livestock comes from agriculture subsidies, with some farmers only making £12,000 a year, even though they are given £44,000 in subsidies. Whilst, for comparison, only 10% of fruit farmers’ annual profit came from subsidies.”

As more people adopt a plant-based diet and the demand for vegan products increases, the prices of vegan food will lower, and barriers will be reduced. But in the meantime, there are still plenty of ways to live affordably on a vegan diet.

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Myth 2: “Veganism is an easy way to lose weight”

Eating a vegan diet certainly can help you to lose weight and gain more control over what you eat. It’s quite common for new vegans to report that they lost weight in the first few months of changing their diet, especially as their body adjusts to the new type of food it’s digesting.  

However, it’s a misconception that veganism automatically equates to weight loss.

Like any diet, it is only beneficial for weight loss and health if well-planned and balanced.

Plant-based eating can lend itself to a healthier diet and help you to lose weight, as your intake of nutritious and low-calorie foods may increase. But it’s completely possible to eat an unhealthy and fatty vegan diet that could instead make you gain weight. This is especially true if your diet consists mostly of carbs, processed vegan options and indulgent treats, which are becoming more and more available.

Whether you’re an omnivore, vegetarian or vegan, proper planning of your diet is essential if you want to manage your weight.

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Myth 3: “Vegans can’t get enough protein”

The belief that vegans can’t acquire protein from plant-based eating is undoubtedly the most common misconception and has been repeatedly debunked.

There are countless plant-based sources of protein. Many are actually a healthier source than animal products and have more protein per calorie than meat. Examples of plant-based protein sources include lentils, beans, peas, nuts, mushrooms, soya products (like tofu), broccoli, quinoa, pasta – the list goes on. 

Even if you exercise a lot or are building muscle, you can easily achieve all the protein you need from a plant-based diet. In fact, the famous Netflix documentary “The Game Changers” explores the many benefits of plant-based eating for athletes and highlights the success stories of vegan athletes.

It’s also worth noting that almost all sources of protein, particularly protein acquired from animals like cows and chickens, actually originate from plants. In short, the plants animals eat are broken down and converted into protein.

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Myth 4: “Vegans can’t get enough calcium”

Going hand in hand with the previous myth, this misconception is also widespread. It often stems from the incorrect belief that dairy products are the best or only source of calcium. 

Like protein, calcium is readily available in a variety of plant-based foods. In fact, some plant-based sources of calcium are better absorbed by the body than dairy milk, such as kale.

Examples of vegan calcium sources include cabbage, broccoli, kale, and other leafy green vegetables, tofu, fortified plant milks, almonds, chia and sesame seeds, beans and pulses and bread (white and brown flour is fortified with calcium by law in the UK).

Even if you aren’t vegan, having a range of calcium sources in your diet can be a much healthier option. According to the British United Provident Association (BUPA), one in ten people in the UK are lactose intolerant, meaning dairy products like milk are difficult to digest. Whole milk also contains a high-fat content, making it an unhealthier source of calcium compared to various plant-based options.

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Myth 5: “Vegans can’t get enough nutrients and vitamins”

Many people mistakenly think that a vegan diet does not provide all the necessary nutrients and vitamins needed to live healthily. As we’ve seen in the case of protein and calcium, plant-based foods readily provide all the nutrients you need. The only exception is vitamin B12, which we’ll discuss shortly.

Below are a few examples of nutrients and vitamins that misconceptions frequently circulate about.

Iron

According to The Vegan Society, iron deficiency is the most common deficiency in the world. This can occur regardless of whether you’re a meat eater or not, as there are often many factors at play. For example, if you do or don’t eat certain foods that affect absorption, as well as menstruation.

The good news is that iron is readily available from many plants. Examples include lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, tofu, cashew nuts, kale, quinoa, pumpkin seeds, dried apricots, figs and raisins.

B12

Sources of vitamin B12 are commonly questioned in reference to veganism, as the main sources of vitamin B12 (aside from supplements) are animals and animal products. The reality is that vegans can achieve the intake they need, though the only reliable sources are supplements or fortified foods, so it’s important for vegans to ensure they are getting the necessary amount from them.

It’s also interesting to note that the way in which B12 is typically achieved by omnivores is quite misunderstood.

Vitamin B12 is produced by certain microorganisms. It is not naturally found in plants, but animals acquire it when they graze, as the substance from which they can synthesise it (cobalt) can be naturally present in soil. However, in modern animal agriculture, farmed animals are mostly kept indoors so do not achieve it this way. Therefore, they are normally given cobalt or B12 supplements. This means that farmed animals are mostly a middle-man for a person’s B12 intake.

For vegans, there are fortunately a few ways to healthily acquire B12, the easiest of which is taking a regular supplement. Many vegan foods are also fortified with B12 – such as nutritional yeast, vegan spreads, breakfast cereals and plant milks – and this will usually be highlighted on the food label.

Iodine

Much like vitamin B12, animals typically achieve iodine via soil when grazing, and it is often naturally found in sea life. Farmed animals usually receive supplements to prevent deficiency, as they will not always be able to achieve it through grazing. 

While some plants do contain a minimal amount, this isn’t considered an effective way of achieving iodine. Seaweed is an excellent source, though the amount can sometimes be too high, so a moderate intake may be suitable. The most reliable way for vegans to achieve iodine is by taking a regular supplement.  

Omega-3 and omega-6 fats

Omega 3s and 6s are vital for brain health, and the common misconception about them is that they’re only achievable from oily fish. There are actually a number of plant-based sources of omega fats, such as various seeds (including pumpkin, sunflower, flax, and chia), walnuts, seaweed and soya spread.

Due to the way omegas are converted in the body, a little extra thought is required to ensure it’s effectively acquired through a vegan diet. In short, this involves balancing your intake of various sources.

Absorption can also vary from person to person, and there are some rare cases where conversion to the necessary type of omega is a challenge. In this case, an algae-based supplement is suitable, and vegans may want to take this anyway if they find planning meals around it too complicated.

Note that algae is the main source for fish too, and additional omegas are often supplemented into the diets of farmed fish.  

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Myth 6: “A vegan diet is too restrictive”      

As we’ve seen throughout this article, there are so many different foods that vegans can still eat, many of which are fundamentals in any type of diet. The main challenge for vegans is that the demand for animal products is much higher than for vegan products, particularly for easy-to-make foods and when eating out, and there are so many products with tiny traces of animal derivatives.

However, the options available are continuously increasing as the number of vegans continues to rise, and there are countless recipe possibilities. There is a substitution or alternative for just about every animal product, from meats to milks to chocolates. Nowadays, most UK supermarkets have dedicated plant-based sections, and most eateries offer at least one or two vegan options, and this is on the rise each year.

Many vegans even report that they became more creative with cooking, and they eat a wider variety of foods once they swap their diet.

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Myth 7: “You will always be hungry and tired on a vegan diet”

This misconception is usually prompted by the myth that vegans can’t achieve all the nutrients they need for good health and that their diet is too restricted. As discussed earlier, just like any diet, a vegan one can be unhealthy and leave you feeling unsatisfied and low on energy if not properly planned and balanced.

Many first-time vegans report feeling hungry and tired, while others report gaining energy boosts. This will all depend on how quickly a person’s body adjusts to the new food it’s digesting and how well-balanced their diet is.

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Myth 8: “You cannot be vegan when pregnant”

Concern for soon-to-be vegan parents and their unborn child is common, though it is also a misconception. Pregnancy is a challenge for the body no matter what diet you are on and usually requires additional consideration of nutrients.

The NHS states that “A varied and balanced vegetarian or vegan diet can provide enough nutrients for you and your baby during pregnancy.” They advise that you pay particular attention to iron and vitamin B12, which, as discussed earlier in this article, can be achieved on a vegan diet. The NHS provides thorough guidance on what to consider when pregnant.

There is also a misconception that children cannot be raised on a vegan diet. While parents do need to pay particular attention to their children’s diet to ensure they get everything they need for development, the NHS states that: “As long as they get all the nutrients they need, children can be brought up healthily on a vegetarian or vegan diet.”

If you’re ever concerned about being on a vegan diet during pregnancy or raising your child vegan, you can always seek further information from the NHS and your GP or another medical professional, to ensure you’re fully prepared.

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Myth 9: “Vegan products are safe for those with food allergies”

As with any type of food product, if you have a food allergy, then it’s essential you always check the ingredients list to look for allergens. Whilst many vegan products are allergen-free, there are also many which aren’t. For example, check the label on a ready-made vegan meal, and you’ll likely see the inclusion of gluten, sesame or sulphites in bold font on the ingredients list.

Whilst many of the 14 named allergens are indeed animal products (dairy, fish and eggs, for example), many of them are also commonly used in vegan meat-substitute products. Soya is perhaps the most common example of an allergen used in vegan foods, as it’s often a main ingredient in vegan burgers and sausages, etc., but don’t forget about nuts and peanuts, which are a great source of nutrients for those following a plant-based diet.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that there’s no legal definition of the term ‘vegan’, so there is also no legal definition – in the UK or EU – of what ingredients a vegan food product can or cannot contain. In short, this is a complicated area, so it’s vital that those with allergies always check the ingredient lists of so-called vegan products.

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Myth 10: “Vegan and plant-based are the same thing”

The terms ‘vegan’ and ‘plant-based’ are often used interchangeably and, on the whole, they are largely the same thing. If we look at the finer details, however, we’ll learn that vegan and plant-based can be quite different.

As seen earlier in the article, the Vegan Society’s definition of vegan is ‘a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.’ This shows that the term ‘vegan’ refers to the use of animals for anything, not just food products. It also uses the term ‘veganism’ to refer to a philosophy or way of life – ‘plant-based’ does not extend this far.

‘Plant-based’ generally refers more specifically to food products only, though it can also be seen on the labels of some beauty products and even cleaning products- this is often simply for marketing reasons. The term ‘plant-based’ is usually used to refer to a food product or diet that consists solely, or largely, of food products derived from plants. Note that this definition, unlike veganism, doesn’t necessarily exclude animal products completely. You can still say you follow a plant-based diet if you eat ‘largely’ plant-based food products or follow a vegetarian diet, for example, or a ‘plant-based burger’ may still contain egg.

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There are many myths and misconceptions about veganism, some of which we have debunked in this article, but there are also many more that can make people wonder whether veganism is a good choice. It’s important for everyone to research the facts about this subject, so they can better understand the commonly misunderstood vegan diet and lifestyle.

What to Read Next:

• A Vegan Grocery List – 50 Ideas for a Healthy Vegan Kitchen
• A Vegetarian Diet: What Can I Eat & What are the Benefits?
• Guide to Alternative Milk: Food Safety, Nutritional Benefits & A Good Brew!
• Vegan Food Products: What are the Labelling Requirements?
• Nutrition and Healthy Eating Training Course

The post 10 Vegan Myths and Facts appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article, we will discuss what a fussy or picky eater is. We’ll also provide you with a range of ideas for healthy meals and snacks alongside tips for creating a meal plan that works for every type of fussy eater.

What is a Picky Eater?

Being described as ‘picky’ or ‘fussy’ with food is subjective. However, we tend to use these terms to describe someone who has strong opinions on which foods they will or won’t eat, and they may be unwilling to branch out and try new foods. They may also refuse to eat a meal they usually like if it looks, smells, or tastes different to what they are used to.

Young children are commonly fussy eaters. They may refuse to eat at usual mealtimes, or refuse to try anything new. But this is often nothing to worry about so long as they are active and not losing weight. They should also have a diet that includes the four main food groups. Taste buds change as we age, and this is the same for children. Often, they will refuse a particular food one week and then love it soon after.

Adults can just as commonly be fussy eaters, and there are many different reasons why this may occur. Sometimes past trauma, stress and experiences as children can impact on their relationship with food  – for example, if they suffered from an eating disorder, or had an experience of choking on food. Other times, there is no reason for someone’s preferences, and they simply have a limited range of food that they like, or will eat.

Having a limited range of  acceptable food or meals can mean that you don’t get all the nutrients needed for a well-balanced, healthy diet. For more information, consider having a read of our article: ‘What is a Nutritionally Balanced Diet and Why is it Important?’ 

It’s important to remember that being a fussy eater isn’t the same as having a food intolerance. This is a term used for people who have difficulty digesting certain foods, resulting in an adverse physical reaction to them if they are eaten. For more information on food intolerances, check out our article, here.

Healthy Meals for Fussy Eaters

As we’ve mentioned, it’s important for everyone to have a nutritionally balanced diet, and that includes fussy eaters. It can be tricky to ensure that fussy eaters eat healthily and get a balanced diet. Below, we’ve compiled a list of suggestions for healthy meals for fussy eaters.

• Chilli con carne with brown rice – you can make this just as you normally make chilli con carne, but ensuring that you use the leanest minced beef. Swapping white rice for brown rice gives the option for an even healthier version of this meal idea. Cook the meat in a low-fat cooking spray and serve with a low-fat sour cream or cheese.

• Healthy homemade pizza – it’s easier to make than you’d think. Use wholemeal flour for the base, pure tomato passata with basil, garlic and oregano for the sauce, and top it with shredded mozzarella, rocket leaves and halved vine tomatoes. You can put other vegetables on it as well – red peppers, onions and mushrooms all work well.

• Poached egg and avocado on toast – place a poached egg on top of a slice of granary toast spread with crushed avocado, season with salt and pepper.

• Vegetable stir-fry – these are great for using up lots of veggies, as you can add pretty much anything. Thinly slice the vegetables (peppers, broccoli and carrots all work well) and fry in a wok with sunflower oil. You can then add onions, garlic and a stir-fry sauce of your choice. Add noodles and soy sauce to add that final ‘zing’ of texture and flavour.

• Crusty granary bread with low-fat cream cheese and tomato – think of it as a bit like a pizza, with the bread for the base and the low-fat cream cheese (try Philadelphia Light or ricotta) and sliced tomato for the topping.

• Mushrooms on granary toast – mushrooms are delicious lightly fried in olive oil with a little milk, low-fat Philadelphia and wholegrain mustard. Add spinach for a healthy boost of iron. Serve on a slice of granary toast for a quick and healthy lunch.

• Spaghetti Bolognese – this is a classic meal for a reason, and one that can cater to anyone, regardless of their food preferences. You can use a meat alternative instead of beef mince, and/or wholewheat pasta, if you prefer. You can also blitz carrots, courgette, onion and tinned tomatoes, filling the dish with vegetables without a fussy eater noticing.

Healthy Snacks for Fussy Eaters

Below we’ve listed some healthier options for snacks or smaller meals when you’re feeling peckish or want a light bite. 

• Porridge with fresh fruit – porridge (and oats in any form) is a great choice for breakfast because it’s filling, and releases its energy slowly throughout the day. Top your porridge with your choice of fresh fruit (bananas, strawberries and blueberries go particularly well) to finish it off.

• Tropical smoothie – chop up a banana, a small mango and strawberries and blend them together with 300ml of orange juice for a refreshing and healthy start to the day.

• Fruit salad – there’s something about fruit salad that somehow makes eating fruit more fun; chopped fruit seems to taste better, too. Slice and dice a selection of your favourite fruits (you can include tinned fruit, but make sure it’s in juice rather than syrup) and serve with a spoon or two of Greek yoghurt.

• Dried banana chips – these have all the great taste of a fresh banana, conveniently packaged for grazing throughout the day.

• Vegetable crisps – these are a delicious alternative to traditional crisps. Vegetable crisps are made from dried parsnip, carrot and other root vegetables, but don’t let that put you off. These crunchy treats taste nothing like their raw form, and they’re better for you than normal crisps.

• Yoghurt-coated dried strawberry pieces – who knew that healthy snacks could taste so good? Dried fruit counts as one of your five-a-day and yoghurt-coated dried strawberries are a delightful way to up your intake.

Need a Course?

Our Nutrition & Healthy Eating training course provides an introduction to nutrition and looks at the importance of healthy eating. It also examines the effect your diet can have on your health and wellbeing, and includes a free downloadable weekly meal planner and recipe booklet.

Tips for Picky Eaters

While it can be more challenging, there are ways in which fussy eaters can ensure that they have a nutritionally balanced diet. Below, we’ve compiled a few tips that may help.

• One option is to make food ahead of time and freeze it until you want it. Great examples of make-ahead food include: soups, stews, meat sauces and even some assembled recipes such as pies, lasagne or a fruit crumble. For more information on how to freeze food safely, take a look at our article, here.
• The presentation of food can have a huge impact on whether or not we enjoy it, and this can be especially true of fussy eaters. Perhaps think about different ways of presenting or serving the food you eat. This can also help when trying new meals or foods.
• Discover food pairings with flavours that you already know you enjoy. For more information on flavour, check out our article – which contains a free downloadable food pairing chart – here. 
• Look for recipes that use ingredients that you know you like, and start introducing some other foods or spices into that mix.
• Refrain from adding salt or pepper while you’re cooking if you have a bland palette. 
• If you have children who are picky eaters, avoid using food treats as a reward, as your child may start to think of sweets as nice and vegetables as nasty. Instead, reward them for good behaviour with something away from food, such as an activity around the house or a trip outside somewhere.

We hope you’ve found this article on healthy eating for fussy eaters informative and helpful. If you have any further questions, or wish to find out more information on the topics covered in this article, call a member of our friendly support team on 0333 006 7000.

Further Resources

• Nutrition and Healthy Eating Training Course
• Food Hygiene Quiz for Kids
• Nutrition & Healthy Eating Quiz
• What is a Nutritionally Balanced Diet and Why is it Important?
• What Are Ultra-Processed Foods and How Do We Recognise Them?
• Healthy Eating Guide for British Teenagers
• The Healthy Eating Pyramid
• Does the Eatwell Guide Lead to a Balanced Diet?
• Healthy Eating Quiz for Kids

The post A Healthy Eating Plan for Fussy Eaters appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

A nutritionally balanced diet is something many strive for – but why? Is it because fitness influencers on Instagram told you so? Or, is it just a case of following along with the majority, as society’s perception of what we deem to be a suitable diet shifts? 

In this article we will provide a quick guide to understanding the components of a balanced diet and how that might look – helping you to understand its importance and how you can achieve it. We’ll also provide you with a range of balanced recipe ideas, free for your use. You can use the links below to jump to particular sections within the article.

• What is a nutritionally balanced diet?
  • Components of a balanced diet.
• Why is a Balanced Diet So Important?
• How Do I Achieve and Maintain a Nutritionally Balanced Diet?
  • Using a Recipe Book.
  • Meal Planning.
• Examples of Balanced Meal Recipes.
  • Recipe for apple crumble porridge.
  • Recipe for aubergine and udon stir fry.
  • Recipe for turkey and courgette meatballs in a roasted red pepper sauce.

What is a Nutritionally Balanced Diet?

The term ‘nutritionally balanced diet’ has the potential to be viewed on a fairly broad spectrum. Once you break down foods, they are made up of the same sorts of nutrients, but these come in many forms. Essentially, a nutritious diet should be based on these six basic components:

• Carbohydrate (including fibre)
• Protein 
• Fat 
• Vitamins 
• Minerals 
• Fluids

A healthy meal doesn’t necessarily have to come in the form of meat, rice and vegetables. Protein, for example, comes in many other forms besides from meat. Nuts, seeds, legumes, beans (in particular soya beans) are all meat-free sources of protein. You can read more on guidance for how to achieve a balanced vegetarian diet in our article here.

A nutritious diet does not mean cutting out or demonising particular foods or food groups. Carbs are not the enemy, fat is not to be feared – you can enjoy a balanced diet at the same time as enjoying a slice of cake with your cuppa. The key to eating a balanced diet is in the name – balance. However, you need to be aware that some foods hold a higher or lower nutritional value than others and thus, should be consumed more or less than others.

Calories, whilst not the most important part of a diet, are also something to be aware of. Different foods contain different calorific values and having a general understanding of the different calorie levels of foods can help you maintain a balanced diet.

It has previously been thought that calories are the most important factor when eating a healthy and balanced diet, and whilst there is a recommended calorie intake for the day to aim for, you should be more concerned with the types of food that you are eating.

For example, a day spent eating slightly more calories from whole foods such as fruit and vegetables, wholegrain starchy carbohydrates and lean protein is likely to be more beneficial for your health versus a day of slightly fewer calories made up from processed foods high in fat, salt and sugar. To find out more on processed and ultra-processed foods, check out our article.

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Components of a Balanced Diet

As mentioned earlier, a nutritionally balanced diet is based on the foundations of 6 components – carbohydrates (including fibre), proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and fluids.

An easy way to understand this is by taking a look at the Eatwell Guide. This is a pictorial design created by the Department of Health, explaining how to meet your nutritional needs, it looks at 6 different food groups:

• Fruit and vegetables make up around one third of the chart, the guide stresses the need for eating a good variety of fruit and veg. There’s nothing wrong with that bag of sweetcorn at the back of the freezer, but maybe swap it out for a green bean or aubergine every now and then. 
• Potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and other starchy carbohydrates should also make up just over a third of the chart. Opt for whole grain versions of foods like pasta, bread and rice where possible, as it’s an easy way to boost your fibre intake.
• Beans, pulses, fish, eggs and meat are a great source of protein. Aim for lean cuts of meat, less red and processed meats and two portions of fish a week (with one being an oily fish, like mackerel).
• Dairy and alternatives are also a good source of protein and are an essential source of calcium. Alternatives such as soya milk and nut milks are also good options but do tend to be lower in calcium content and can be high in fat. 
• Oils and spreads should be eaten in moderation, try to use unsaturated fats where you can like sunflower or olive oil.
• Foods high in fat, salt and sugar are not on the chart itself because they aren’t actually needed in our diet, and so should be eaten less often and in moderation.

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Why is a Balanced Diet So Important?

A balanced diet is important for many reasons. Most notably, enjoying a healthy, balanced diet can have a direct positive effect on your overall health as these two things are closely linked. 

There are many health benefits that often come from having a nutritious and balanced diet, such as:

• Lowered risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. 
• Stronger bones.
• Healthy skin, teeth and eyes. 
• Boosted immunity.
• A healthy digestive system and gut.

A healthy diet can also help more specific groups of people for other reasons, as well as the benefits mentioned above. For example, a healthy and nutritious diet is essential for those who are pregnant as it supports a healthy pregnancy and breastfeeding. Folic acid is essential as it helps to create new maternal and foetal tissue during pregnancy, and dramatically reduces the risk of neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. A balanced diet during pregnancy is also linked to a healthy birth weight and brain development for the child, and can help the mother avoid anemia and fatigue.

A balanced diet is, unsurprisingly, also very important for children, it helps to:

• Support brain development.
• Support healthy growth.
• Boost immunity. 

Just as a good diet has positive effects on your health, a poor diet can equally have a negative impact. Without balanced nutrition, your body is more prone to disease, infection, fatigue and low performance.

Many common health problems are caused by nutrient excess such as: 

• Diabetes. 
• Obesity. 
• Arthritis. 
• Infertility. 
• High blood pressure and cholesterol. 
• Heart disease. 
• Stroke. 

Nutrient deficiency can also have a negative effect on health and some common examples of this are:

• Anemia.
• Bleeding gums. 
• Brittle bones.
• Tooth decay.
• Mental health challenges.

It should also be noted that, if combined with an active lifestyle, a healthy and balanced diet can also help to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. 

Want to learn more?

Consider our Healthy Eating and Nutrition training course to find out more on nutrition and how it affects health and wellbeing.

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How Do I Achieve and Maintain a Nutritionally Balanced Diet?

There are many different things you can do to enjoy a nutritious and balanced diet. Enjoying the food you’re eating is step number one here because, if you find yourself cast under a spell of eating bland salads and plain grilled chicken breast under the impression that’s the only way to eat healthily, chances are you won’t stick to it.

Below, we’ll look into some ideas you can easily implement that will help you to not only achieve – but also maintain – a nutritionally balanced diet.

Using a Recipe Book

As mentioned above, finding recipes that you enjoy, and thus, will cook again is key to enjoying a healthy and balanced diet. Take the time to find some healthy and balanced recipes that taste good to you. Cooking can be a very subjective process. If there are some flavours in a recipe that you don’t particularly enjoy, and their removal won’t completely alter the base of the dish, you don’t have to use them.

So you can find recipes and adjust them a little here and there to make them meals you love, or just find recipes that you love outright. Recipe books and booklets are a great way to collate your favourite recipes in one place – this can be in print, or you could add a whole load of links to your favorite online recipes to one document so that they’re easy to locate. This is the first step to having a successfully balanced and healthy diet, next up comes a little pre-planning.

Meal Planning

Meal plans are an excellent way to stick to a healthier diet. If you plan ahead a little and utilise a meal planner to organise your weekly shopping and meals, you can easily stay on track with nutrition and healthy eating. 

Going to the shops with a thought-out plan for the week’s menu means you are more likely to buy the exact ingredients you need for it. In turn, this means you will likely save money and not waste as much food that you buy and then never include in your meals. It also means you are more likely to stick to the healthy meals you have planned, as you already have all the ingredients for them.

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Examples of Balanced Meal Recipes

Finding nutritionally balanced meals that you enjoy can be challenging, so we have created a recipe booklet to help you.

The booklet is made up of 16 delicious recipes developed especially for the course and features a mix of breakfasts, lunches and dinners suitable for a wide range of lifestyles and dietary requirements. 

Included for free in this article are:

This one is an absolute winner for breakfasts – balanced and flavoured with cinnamon, apple and sweetened with maple syrup. 

Some elements of this recipe can be time-consuming – such as the ‘crumble’ topping and the stewed apple. However, both of these can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge (for up to 5 days) until ready to use. Whether you make ahead and enjoy before work, or leisurely cook on a Sunday morning, these oats are a great way to give a spark of life into your morning porridge.

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This stir fry acts as a quick and easy lunch – and is completely vegan! It comes together quickly and once you have the store cupboard ingredients stocked up, it is an inexpensive meal to throw together. We’ve used aubergine in the recipe, but if you have any other vegetables available, feel free to throw them in too and increase your daily intake of vegetables.

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This recipe is a great way to increase your vegetable intake. It features a load of hidden vegetables, such as the courgette in the meatballs and so it is a great way to sneak some extra veg into the diets of even the fussiest eaters. You can also make extra to store in the freezer for another day, simply freeze the raw meatballs once you have formed them into balls. Make sure this is before they are cooked. You can then safely defrost them ahead of time and continue cooking as the recipe calls for. Once your sauce is made, this can also be frozen flat in freezer bags for a quick midweek pasta sauce. The meatballs can last around 3-4 months in the freezer and the sauce up to 6 months.

This article aims to not only stress the importance of a nutritious and balanced diet, but also looks to actually give you a handful of recipes to kick start your recipe collection and inspire you to eat a healthy and nutritious diet. The recipes we have included in this article are a sneak peek from an all new and exclusive recipe booklet, included in our Nutrition and Healthy Eating course which you can get here. If you try out any of these recipes, be sure to post photos of your recreations and tag us @highspeedtraining.

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We hope you’ve found this article to be a useful insight into the benefits of a healthy diet and that you cook and enjoy the recipes we have provided. It is our aim for them to act as inspiration to get going in the kitchen, or to find a new favorite cookbook to delve into. For any more information, feel free to get in touch. High Speed Training offers a wide variety of courses and resources that can help.

Further Resources:

• Nutrition and Healthy Eating Training Course
• Nutrition & Healthy Eating Quiz
• Does The Eatwell Guide Lead to a Balanced Diet?
• What Are Ultra-Processed Foods and How Do We Recognise Them?
• Food Hygiene Quiz for Kids
• Healthy Eating Guide for British Teenagers
• The Healthy Eating Pyramid
• A Healthy Eating Plan for Fussy Eaters
• Changes in Eating Habits Over the Years: Comparing Diets Now & Then

The post What is a Nutritionally Balanced Diet and Why is it Important? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

We will explain the differences between high-risk and low-risk food groups, as well how each different processing method affects the longevity of the food. This article will also provide an overview of how to determine and increase shelf life of a product.

This article covers the following:

• What is Food Shelf Life?
  • High-risk Foods
  • Low-risk Foods
• What are the Factors Affecting Shelf Life?
  • Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors
  • Processing Methods
  • Product Formulation
  • Product Formulation: Water Activity
  • Product Formulation: Additives
  • Storage and Transportation
  • Packaging
• How to Determine the Shelf Life of Food Products
  • How to Calculate Shelf Life
• How to Increase the Shelf Life of Food Products
  • Methods for Increasing Shelf Life
  • Benefits of Extending Shelf Life

Use the links above if you’d like to jump to a certain section of the article.

What is Food Shelf Life?

Shelf life is the time after production that the food remains safe to eat or the period food can be used while maintaining its quality.

Top Tip

It is an offence to sell goods past their use by date as they may not be safe for consumption.

High-risk Foods

High-risk foods are ready-to-eat foods and often contain the ideal conditions for bacterial growth such as moisture and a high protein content. These foods are often stored under refrigeration and are marked with a ‘use-by’ date. ‘Use by’ dates are used to indicate that a food could become harmful after that date. These dates are determined and verified through microbial testing.

Examples of high-risk foods include:

• Cooked meat and poultry.
• Smoked salmon.
• Prepared salads and vegetables.
• Dairy products, such as milk, cream and cheese.
• Meat gravies, sauces, pâté and meat pies.
• Foods made with uncooked egg, such as mousse and mayonnaise.
• Seafood, such as cooked shellfish, prawns and oysters.
• Cooked rice and pasta.

Frozen meat products and fish must show the date of freezing or the date of first freezing, if frozen more than once. Frozen meats going on to further processing must carry both the date of production and the date of freezing. The date on batches must be for the oldest component. Freezing makes the pathogens dormant and does not kill them. This is why it is not recommended to refreeze products, and mishandling a frozen product will affect the shelf life.

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Low-risk Foods

Low-risk foods are often stable at ambient temperatures due to preservation methods such as dehydration or acid fermentation. These foods have a ‘best before’ date.

‘Best before’ dates apply to foods which will deteriorate in quality after the specified date, but which would not become harmful to health. These dates are determined by quality testing. For more information on durability dates, read our article on ‘What is the Difference between Use By & Best Before Dates?’.

Examples of low-risk foods include:

• Sweets.
• Pickles.
• Honey.
• Jam and preserves.
• Syrups.
• Vinegar.
• Flour and dried pasta.

The exemptions from date marking include drinks over 10% alcohol, sugar, salt, and products that are generally expected to be eaten on the day of purchase such as fresh fruit & vegetables and bakery products. ‘Sell by’, ‘display until’ and similar indications are retailer marks and have no legal significance.

It is important for all food manufacturers to have a good understanding of what makes a food high-risk or low-risk as it is one of the biggest factors that affect the shelf life of a product.

Like to learn more?

Consider taking our Food Labelling Regulations training course to find out more about how to label products.

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What are the Factors Affecting Shelf Life?

There are many factors that can affect the shelf life of different foods. It is important to know what these consist of – particularly for those who work in food manufacturing.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors

Intrinsic factors are inherent within the food and cannot be controlled, such as:

• Water activity.
• Moisture content.
• pH.
• Salt content.
• Sugar content.
• Nutrient content.
• Oxidation potential.

Extrinsic factors are the shelf-life factors which can be controlled or changed, for example:

• Time.
• Temperature
• Modified Atmospheric Packaging (MAP) and packaging materials.
• Processing methods.
• Chemical preservatives.

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Processing Methods

Processing methods are often used to kill bacteria and make the product uninhabitable for pathogens. For example:

• Acid fermentation, such as kimchi. 
• Curing and smoking, such as cured meats and smoked salmon.
• Thermal processes, such as UHT milk or juice pasteurisation within the packaging to ensure a long shelf life.

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Product Formulation

The product formulation is one of the biggest factors that affect the shelf life. The ‘clean label’ and ‘healthier’ consumer demands pose a challenge to product developers. Sugar, salt and additives all contribute greatly to the shelf life of a product. Therefore, it isn’t as simple as just reducing or removing them as consumers often expect the product attributes to stay the same.

Product Formulation: Water Activity

Water activity is a measure of available water, which is used to determine the potential growth of microorganisms. Each pathogen will have a different minimum level of water activity to allow growth. The measurement ranges from 0.0 to 1.0. For reference, pure water has a water activity measure of 1.0, fresh fruit, vegetables and meat all have a water activity measure of over 0.9, and biscuits are around 0.3.

A product with a water activity level below 0.8 reduces the number of microorganisms which are likely to grow to some moulds and yeasts. Jam, for example, has a high moisture content but is relatively low water activity measure (around 0.75 – 0.8). This is because the sugar binds to the water, making it unavailable for microbial growth. Salt has the same ability to bind to water as sugar, which is why it is challenging to reduce salt and sugar when reformulating a healthier product, especially if preservatives are also not used.

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Product Formulation: Additives

Additives, such as preservatives and acidity regulators, can be used to increase the shelf life of a product. The pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of something. Most often in food and drink products, an acidity regulator, such as citric acid, is used to ensure the product has a consistently low (acidic) pH as most bacteria prefer a neutral pH around 6.5 – 7.0.

Preservatives, such as sulphites, are also frequently used in long life products such as wine and dried fruits. The ‘clean label’ trend has driven the reformulation of many supermarket products with claims such as ‘no nasties’ and ‘no artificial preservatives’ now expected from consumers. The demand for fewer allergens also affects sulphite containing products because sulphites are one of the 14 named allergens.

Products aiming to comply with ‘clean label’ ideals are more difficult to formulate to have the same shelf life as their high sugar, salt and preservative-containing competitors.
Food products often have a ‘rework’ recipe version if there is leftover or safe rejected product (such as not meeting the correct weight) from a previous production run. Adding rework at high quantities may affect the structure and quality of certain products.

Recipes which include rework should be sensory tested to find out if there is a difference in taste and texture, compared to a recipe without rework. Sensory testing will also allow you to find the percentage of rework that can be added without altering the shelf life of the product. For example, adding reworked set fudge to a fudge mixture will reduce waste but may affect the texture and quality shelf life of the fudge.

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Storage and Transportation

Times, temperatures and conditions all play a major role in maintaining the shelf life of a product. A product will have a specification which will contain the temperatures and conditions the product should be stored and shipped. For example, ambient ‘stored in a cool and dry place’, frozen or chilled ‘this product must be kept refrigerated’. If the storage and transportation of a product is not safe or falls outside of the product specifications, the product can spoil faster than its declared shelf life. 

During the movement of product – either from storage to the transport vehicle or from the transport vehicle to the retailer or distribution centre – products must maintain their specified conditions. If the temperature of a chilled product goes within the temperature danger zone, it could reduce the shelf life of the product and make the product unsafe. Equally, a frozen product must remain frozen otherwise the dormant microorganisms could continue to grow if the conditions become favourable again.

It is out of the hands of the manufacturer and retailer as to how a customer handles their products after purchase. For this reason, it is important to clearly state the storage instructions on the pack, as well as how long the product is safe after opening – for those products which quickly spoil once opened.

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Packaging

Packaging can be used to extend the shelf life of products, examples include:

• Modified Atmospheric Packaging, such as adding carbon dioxide to ready-to-eat ham slices.
• Vacuum packing, for example, when steaks are vacuum packed to remove oxygen from the packaging.
• Sealed plastic, such as the plastic packaging in cereal boxes, to prevent the cereal from going soft.
• Canning. 

The type of packaging material used greatly influences the shelf life of products. To find out more about each type of packaging material, read our article on ‘Food Packaging Materials: Regulations & Different Types’.

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How to Determine the Shelf Life of Food Products

It is important to do your own testing to determine the shelf life of your products to verify that your products are safe to be consumed within the time period you specify. For longer life ambient-stable products, you want to set a shelf life where the quality of your product nearing the end of the shelf life is a product your customers will still be happy with.

How to Calculate Shelf Life

For perishable products, a microbial analysis is essential in determining and validating your ‘use by’ date. If you don’t know where to start, take a look at industry publications and any potential legislation which may apply to your product. For example, in the UK, the maximum shelf life for meat products is 13 days, which was recently extended from 10.

For non-perishable ambient-stable products, microbial and sensory testing is often used in combination to determine the ‘best before’ date. 

It is beneficial to gather as many measures as possible about your product. For example, the pH value, water activity, sugar content, salt content, alcohol content, viscosity, colour, total acidity (TA). This way you can adjust your recipe and measure more accurately to understand the compositional factors at play. The compositional profile can then be used as quality testing tolerances to ensure consistency and safety during manufacturing.

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How to Increase the Shelf Life of Food Products

Each of these above factors play a role in the expiration of each food or drink product, whether it is microbial, or will impact on product quality. Multiple approaches to extending shelf life and food safety are used in the food industry. For example: 

• Beer production uses alcohol, a low pH and pasteurisation to ensure a long shelf life.
• Jam production uses a high sugar content, acidity regulators and pasteurisation to reduce food spoilage. 

The acidity measure is of far more importance when formulating a ‘no added sugar’ jam or ‘low alcohol’ beer. To find out more about ultra-processed food, read our article on ‘What Are Ultra-Processed Foods and How Do We Recognise Them?’.

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Methods for Increasing Shelf Life

Research into novel packaging is one of the developments in how to determine shelf life.  For example, Australian scientists have been researching visual indicators on packaging to indicate when foods are spoiled, in an attempt to reduce food waste. 

You won’t need to alter your product if you look into changing the packaging first. The different barrier qualities of each packaging type impact the shelf life of a product and help prevent it from spoilage or a reduction in quality which, in turn, reduces food waste going to landfill. For fresh products, MAP (Modified Atmospheric Packaging) greatly reduces spoilage.

If you are considering changing the formulation of your product, you must first consider your brand and company values. Do you aim to have ‘no added sugar’, ‘no artificials’ or ‘no nasties’ claims? If so, what healthier and natural ways can you reformulate to make it more difficult for microbial growth?

More consumer friendly ingredients include:

• Citric acid.
• Lemon juice.
• Antioxidants, such as rosemary extract, vitamin C or vitamin E.
• Vinegar.

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Benefits of Extending Shelf Life

Benefits of extending the shelf life of foods include:

• A better quality product.
• Fewer shipments rejected.
• Less food loss and waste.
• Increased profit margins.
• Better brand reputation.

Whilst there are many factors which can affect the shelf life of all food products, it is important to understand what these are, how to determine the expiration of your products, and familiarise yourself with common methods used to extend the shelf life.

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We hope you found the above information useful. Should you wish to discuss your business needs further, or would like to know more about how our training can help you, please contact our friendly, helpful sales and support teams on 0333 006 7000 or email sales@highspeedtraining.co.uk.

Further Resources:

• Food Labelling Regulations Training Course
• What Are Ultra-Processed Foods and How Do We Recognise Them?
• Vegan Food Production: Guidance on Manufacturing Practices
• Ideas for Starting a Food Business From Home
• 17 Ways to Reduce Food Waste in Your Restaurant

The post Understanding Factors Affecting the Shelf Life of Food Products appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

It is clear to see that children should follow a healthy and balanced diet, and school meals are no exception here. Anyone who is involved in catering for pupils has a responsibility to follow school meal standards, along with other legislation to ensure healthy and nutritious food is provided. 

In this article we will outline the regulations and legislation for schools to be aware of, explain why it is so important to provide children with healthy meals, and provide guidance on how you can meet the standards in your school alongside offering a downloadable school meal standards checklist for you to use.

What are the School Food Standards?

As of January 2015, all maintained schools, new academies, and free schools are required to follow the standards of the School Food Plan. It was launched by the Department of Education and in line with the requirements for School Food Regulations 2014. The School Food Plan is a set of standards for all food served in schools and has been designed to make it easier for school cooks to create imaginative, flexible, and nutritious menus.

The Plan highlights the importance of variety within your menus, e.g. using different fruit and vegetables, a range of grains and pulses, and a variety of meats and fish. The Plan also raises awareness of how much children love to hear the stories behind their food. This means that schools should look to use fresh, sustainable, and local ingredients and use these factors to educate children about what they are eating.

The School Food Plan advises that lunches should be made up of:

• One or more portions of starchy food each day, with at least one whole grain variety each week. 
• One or more portions of veg or salad and fruit every day, plus a dessert with at least 50% fruit twice or more a week. 
• A portion of dairy every day, with lower fat milk available for drinking. 
• A portion of meat, fish, eggs, beans or non-dairy protein every day, with meat or poultry on at least three days a week and oily fish once or more every three weeks. 
• No more than two portions of deep-fried, battered or bread-crumbed food each week, and no more than two portions of pastry each week. 
• Nuts, seeds, veg, and fruit with no added salt, sugar or fat as snacks. 
• No confectionery or chocolate. 
• Plain water, lower fat milk, fruit juice, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate drinks.

Governing bodies are able to decide the form that school lunches take, but must ensure that the lunches and other food and drink provided meets the school food standards. It should also be noted that many of the food-based standards apply to food served throughout the school day, including breakfast, midmorning break and afterschool clubs. This also includes food from vending machines and tuck shops. It should also be noted that you must follow the regulations of the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services when creating your menus. It is the responsibility of the school to create their own menus for pupils. In doing so you must ensure that you are cooking healthy food and providing varied menus – here think about the diversity within schools, you must be catering for the different types of dietary, religious, cultural and medicinal needs including allergies.

Allergies

Food allergies or intolerances need to be taken seriously. Schools and caterers must work closely with parents or carers to support children with medical needs, allergies or intolerances. Under section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014, schools have a duty to support pupils at their school with medical conditions. This includes any allergies or intolerances.

The Food Information Regulations 2014 states that all food businesses must show the allergen ingredients’ information for all food served – this included school caterers. In doing so, schools can more easily identify the food that pupils with allergies can or cannot eat. Furthermore, as of October 2021 the Food Information Regulations now include new requirements for the labelling of allergens on prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) foods under Natasha’s Law. PPDS foods are ones packaged on the premises before they are ordered to eat, such as sandwiches. To find out more on Natasha’s Law and how you may be affected – check out our article.

Sustainability

Sustainability is also something to consider in the planning of school menus. Whilst the nutrition and health of the children should take priority, it is important to engage in sustainable food practices such as:

• Plot to plate eating, which essentially calls for as much produce as possible to be home grown and harvested. You could try implementing a school garden where pupils help grow the produce they eat.
• If home growing is not an option, try to source produce as locally as possible. 
• Incorporating lots of plant-based produce, as this often requires less energy from fossil fuels, less land and less water than meat. 
• Where meat is used, sourcing it ethically and sustainably. This means ensuring a high quality of animal welfare and sustainable practices by farmers. 
• Furthermore, when using meat, encourage a nose-to-tail attitude which sets out to use as much of the animal as possible, in as many ways as possible, so little goes to waste.
• A ‘whole school approach’ whereby pupils are not only taught about health and nutrition, but also the sustainable ways in which a healthy diet can be achieved.

Why is it Important for Schools to Provide Healthy Food?

It is important that schools provide healthy food to pupils. School obviously is a place of learning, and this reach stretches beyond just that of the classroom. There is much for children to learn about the importance of healthy eating and the benefits it has. Schools can play an important role in shaping lifelong healthy eating habits.

 Research reported by the Independent claimed that British adults admit to not having a balanced diet as they are bad with portion sizing, understanding food groups and nutritional information. Half of the 200 adults questioned said they had “no idea” how much protein, fat, carbohydrates, sugar, dairy and fruit and vegetables they are supposed to eat.

• 49% said they didn’t have good knowledge on position sizes.
• 9 in 10 said their diet probably lacked balance. 
• One third chose not to eat fruit in a typical week and 46% had no vegetables over the same period.

Such a report clearly outlines the need for people to have a far greater understanding of the food they should be eating and why. The key to this is teaching people from a young age of the importance of a healthy and balanced diet in the food they eat. This is an accomplishment yet to take success, with reports showing an all time high in childhood obesity. 20% of children aged 10-11 and nearly one tenth of 4-5 year olds were classified as obese in 2018/19. On top of this – a recorded £61.7m was spent by local authorities on childhood obesity in 2018/19, including the National Child Measurement Programme.

How Do I Implement the School Food Standards in My Setting?

A healthy diet is essential for children in order to support growth spurts and health as they move into adulthood.

Concentration and mood worsen if you go too long without eating or eat too much of the wrong food groups. Therefore, it’s important to ensure pupils’ meals are healthy and well-balanced. The brains of children need a regular supply of energy so that they can think properly. Furthermore, there is evidence that eating breakfast leads to better learning, compared to not having breakfast. It may also be helpful to eat food that is digested more slowly so that the supply of energy lasts until the next meal or snack. This means that meals including fibre may be particularly good for the brain.

There are a number of ways that you can help to implement food standards into your school – namely following the Eatwell Guide, establishing healthier recipes, adjusting portion sizes, using alternative cooking methods and ensuring that you are catering for allergens and intolerances.

Following the Eatwell Guide

The Eatwell Guide, provided by the Department of Health, is a pictorial example of how to meet your nutritional needs.The Guide shows the proportions in which different types of foods are required in order to have a well-balanced diet, it delivers two key messages: proportion matters and variety counts.

• Based on the Eatwell Guide, fruit and vegetables should make up just over a third of what we consume each day. You should aim for 5 varied portions per day. 
• Starchy foods should also make up just over a third of the food you eat each day. Opt for whole grain versions for extra fibre boosts. 
• Dairy and alternatives are an essential part of your daily diet, they are a good source of protein, vitamins and calcium – all of which are essential for children.
• The Eatwell Guide recommends that we only consume a very small amount of fat each day, so oils and spreads only make up a small part of the chart. 
• Protein is an important part of a diet, meat and fish are good sources as well as beans, pulses and eggs. 
• Foods high in fat, salt and sugar should be avoided in school meals.

The Eatwell Guide makes healthy eating easier to understand by giving a visual representation of the types of foods and drinks we should consume and in what proportions to have a healthy, balanced diet.

Healthier Recipes 

Try to use recipes that have lower fat, salt and sugar content. Foods high in these such as pastries, cakes, biscuits, sweets and full-sugar soft drinks, are non-essential to the diet. For this reason, they should be eaten infrequently and in small amounts. These types of foods are shown separately to the Eatwell Guide’s main guidance to demonstrate that they are non-essential. Always check food labels carefully, particularly with processed foods, to look for hidden fats and sugars which may inadvertently be adding calories to the school meal. 

Therefore, when deciding on the recipes for your pupils, you should try your best to avoid foods high in fat, salt and sugar.

Also watch out for sugary drinks – try to encourage water as the primary drink choice. Instead of water, you can offer:

• 150ml of fruit juice or smoothies a day.
• 150-200ml milk a day.
• 300ml a day of combination drinks such as fruit juice and water or flavoured milk.

To find out more on nutrition, you can take our Nutrition and Healthy Eating Course.

Adjusting Portion Sizes

The ingredients are not the only thing that matters when deciding meals and recipes for pupils, portion sizing is something to also pay attention to as it can be the difference between a nutritious and balanced meal and an unhealthy one. For example a little fat in the diet is good, but too much can raise cholesterol levels.Whilst starchy carbohydrates are an essential part of a diet, they are often high in calories and should only make up just over a third of the plate.

Using Alternative Cooking Methods

Shallow and deep frying foods imparts a lot of unnecessary fat into the diet. Instead try to make use of other, healthier cooking methods such as:

• Roasting.
• Steaming.
• Boiling.
• Sous vide.
• Air frying. 
• Slow cooking.

Catering for Allergens and Intolerances

As we have mentioned, allergies and intolerances must be taken seriously. No matter the food you provide for your pupils, you must ensure that you are catering to all your pupils’ dietary needs – including those with allergies and intolerances. For example, if you are substituting food products for healthier options, it’s vital to ensure you can continue to meet any special dietary needs.

Free School Food Standards Checklist

Eating food you enjoy is especially important in maintaining a healthy diet because if you aren’t cooking food that you enjoy, then chances are you won’t eat it again. This is even more true in regards to children and adolescents and if the healthier options are presented in an unappealing way – bland and flavourless – then they will not take interest in eating them anymore.

We have created a free checklist for you to download and use so that you can ensure you are creating healthy and nutritionally balanced meals for your pupils. The checklist to help you create your menus. By following this and making sure the food groups are covered in appropriate measures, you can more easily guarantee healthy and nutritionally balanced.

We hope you found this article to be a useful insight into school food standards, and that you utilise the free checklist provided to ensure healthy and nutritionally balanced meals for your pupils. For any more information feel free to get in touch. High Speed Training offers a wide variety of courses and resources that can help.

Further Resources:

• Online Food Hygiene Training Courses
• What are the Food Hygiene Requirements in a School?
• What is a School Breakfast Club?
• How to Spot Allergy Bullying

The post School Food Standards: Free Checklist appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

There’s been a recent upward trend in people taking a closer look at what they’re putting into their body. Despite this, it can be difficult to identify how the food we buy has been processed. 

Although the term ‘ultra-processed’ may not be universally known or recognised, according to statistics, more than half the calories an average person in the UK consumes come from ultra-processed foods. 

In this article, we will be focusing on ultra-processed foods specifically, their popularity, and examples of them. We will also be outlining key ways in which you can recognise ultra-processed foods. We’ll also, with the help of a registered dietician, look into what these foods can do to your body and whether it’s possible to include ultra-processed foods into a balanced and healthy diet.

What is Ultra-Processed Food?

If a food is processed, it has been changed in one way or another from its original form by the time it is ready to be sold. Examples of this could be in the form of juicing, dicing, smoking, pasteurising, canning or drying, among other methods. 

Ultra-processed foods, on the other hand, are processed foods that also have additives. They are, therefore, mostly made from substances extracted from other foods such as fats, starches, added sugars among others. They are sometimes referred to as ‘highly processed’.

It might be confusing as to why ultra-processed foods make up so much of an average person’s diet, but the key to their popularity lies in their convenience. Ultra-processed foods often take little to no preparation – ready-to-cook meals, for example. In the day and age where people have busy schedules and/or large families to feed, having food that is convenient can often trump the question of whether or not it is healthy.

According to NOVA, ultra-processed foods are often marketed intensively, easily brandable, and packaged attractively. They are also highly profitable due to the low cost of the ingredients. Therefore, it’s not surprising why stocking and marketing ultra-processed foods is popular and beneficial to manufacturers.

How Do We Recognise Ultra-Processed Foods?

As many foods are processed in some way, even if it is just minimally, it can be difficult to identify whether the food you are buying is ultra-processed or not. 

For example, if made with wheat flour, water, salt, and yeast, bread is a processed food. However the same bread would become ultra-processed if emulsifiers were added.

There are, however, ways in which you can determine whether or not the food you are buying is ultra-processed. These include:

1. Food that has a long list of ingredients listed on the back. According to Professor Maira Bes-Rastrollo, any food that lists more than five ingredients is likely to be ultra-processed. 
2. If there are unrecognisable ingredients listed on a food, there is a good chance that these could be preservatives, colourings, or even chemicals. If this is the case, the food would be ultra-processed. 
3. Foods that have high fat, sugar and salt content are likely to be ultra-processed. 
4. Fresh food that boasts a long shelf life may be ultra-processed, as it may contain preservatives. One of the exceptions to this is long-life milk, however, which doesn’t contain any preservatives and is classed as minimally processed due its pasteurisation at an ultra-high temperature (UHT).
5. Foods that are aggressively marketed or branded. As we’ve already mentioned, ultra-processed foods are highly beneficial to manufacturers and so tend to be made to look more attractive to consumers. For more information on clean label packaging, take a look at our article.

The only sure-fire way to find out whether the food you’re buying is ultra-processed is by looking into its ingredients. Many of these will be things you wouldn’t add into your own cooking. 

Some of the most commonly eaten ultra-processed foods in the UK are:

• Industrialised bread.
• Pre-packaged meals.
• Cereal.
• Reconstituted meat products such as sausages. 

Other examples include:

• Soft drinks.
• Crisps.
• Chocolate.
• Ice-cream.
• Tinned soups.
• Chicken nuggets.

Ultra-Processed Foods and Health

There has been a growing trend in recent years with people taking more care in their diet, and looking into the ingredients of the food they’ve been consuming. For example, on the social media platform Instagram, the hashtag #healthy has 175 million posts, and #healthyfood has 91.6 million. 

As ultra-processed foods are full of sugars, starches and additives, they aren’t exactly good for our health. In fact, studies have shown that ultra-processed foods are associated with higher risks of obesity, heart diseases and stroke, diabetes and cancer. 

I recently spoke with Alex Cameron, a registered dietitian and nutritionist, about ultra-processed foods and how they affect our overall health. Here is what she had to say on the matter:

I also asked Alex’s opinion on whether or not she thinks it’s possible to include ultra-processed foods into a healthy diet. This is what she had to say:

You can check out more about what Alex has to say on how to reach optimum health through your diet and food choices here on her website.

Want to learn more about Health & Nutrition?

Our Nutrition and Healthy Eating Training Course has been designed to provide learners with an introduction to nutrition and healthy eating in order to understand the link between our diet and health.

Processed vs Unprocessed Foods

As we explained earlier, processing is necessary in order to make most food edible for human consumption. There are, however, four different types of food processing and we will look at those in more detail now.

Unprocessed and minimally processed

These are foods that are either minimally processed, or not processed at all. They typically make up approximately 30% of the calories in an average UK diet. 

Unprocessed foods are the edible parts of:

• Plants – such as the stems, roots, seeds or fruit.
• Animals – such as the muscle, offal, milk or eggs.

Minimally processed foods are natural foods that are slightly altered from their original state by removing the inedible or unwanted parts. However, they contain no added preservatives. They are processed through methods such as cooking, drying, crushing, boiling, pasteurising and vacuum-packaging, among others. This is designed to preserve them and make them edible. 

Examples of minimally processed foods include:

• Frozen fruits and vegetables.
• Pasteurised milk.
• 100% fruit juice.
• Dried herbs.

Processed culinary ingredients

These are ingredients that aren’t meant to be eaten alone, but instead, are added to unprocessed or minimally processed foods. They are processed in order to create durable products that can be used to cook or season with by people cooking at home.

Examples include:

• Oils.
• Butter.
• Vinegar.
• Salt.

Processed foods

As we’ve already learned, if a food is processed, it has changed in one way or another from its natural form. These are foods that are made with a mixture of unprocessed or minimally processed and processed culinary ingredients. They are processed in order to prolong its shelf life, and/or enhance the taste. Processed foods usually have two or three ingredients. They can be recognised as modified versions of unprocessed or minimally processed foods.

Unlike processed culinary ingredients, processed foods are edible by themselves, and don’t have to be combined with any other food groups. However, they are often used in combination with other foods.

Examples of processed foods include:

• Freshly-baked bread.
• Cheese.
• Canned fish.
• Tinned vegetables.
• Cakes and biscuits.

Ultra-processed foods

Ultra-processed foods are processed foods that also have additives. They are mostly made from substances extracted from other foods such as fats, starches, and added sugars among others. These foods can be recognised by having at least five different ingredients – many of which include additives such as preservatives, colourings, chemicals or sweeteners.

Examples of ultra-processed foods include:

• Soft drinks.
• Crisps.
• Reconstituted meat products.
• Pre-prepared frozen meals.

We hope you’ve found this article on ultra-processed foods informative and helpful. If you have any questions, or need further information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Further Resources

• Nutrition and Healthy Eating Training Course
• Level 3 Food Hygiene Training
• What is a Clean Label?
• What is Taste and Why is it Important in Food Products?
• Understanding Factors Affecting the Shelf Life of Food Products

The post What Are Ultra-Processed Foods and How Do We Recognise Them? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

You may choose to go vegetarian for a number of different reasons. For example, animal welfare, religion, health, environmental concerns or to reduce expenses. Regardless of why, it is clearly becoming an increasingly popular diet. According to statistics published by the Vegan Society, it’s predicted that vegetarians and vegans will make up a quarter of the British population in 2025.

Like any diet change, it can be daunting to know where to start and what you can actually eat if you don’t have the right information. Whether you’re vegetarian already or wanting to know more about the diet, our guide will explain the numerous benefits of a vegetarian diet and what you can eat, including some recipe inspiration.

What Can Vegetarians Eat?

A fully vegetarian diet is that which excludes fish, meat and poultry. Vegetarians don’t eat products or by-products of the slaughter of animals, such as foods which have been made using processing aids from slaughter. You may also come across the following terms:

• A lacto-ovo vegetarian, or just a vegetarian, is the main type. It excludes fish, meat and poultry but includes dairy and egg products.
• A lacto vegetarian diet excludes eggs, as well as fish, meat and poultry.
• An ovo vegetarian excludes dairy, as well as fish, meat and poultry from their diet.
• Pescatarians eat fish, egg and dairy products, but exclude meat and poultry from their diet.
• A flexitarian diet is largely vegetarian but occasionally includes fish, meat and poultry. People often adopt this diet in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their health.

What’s the Difference Between a Vegetarian and a Vegan Diet?

A vegan (or plant-based) diet is different to a vegetarian one in that it excludes all animal by-products, such as dairy, eggs and honey, as well as fish, meat and poultry.

Veganism is more than just a diet, however. It’s a lifestyle choice whereby vegans avoid contributing to all forms of animal exploitation in their lives. This includes excluding animal-derived materials like wool and leather, products that are tested on animals, such as beauty products, and avoiding places that use animals for the entertainment of humans, such as circuses.

If you want to learn more about a vegan diet and what foods to eat to ensure you get enough vitamins and minerals, take a look at our article ‘A Vegan Grocery List – 50 Ideas for a Healthy Vegan Kitchen’.

How to Achieve a Balanced Vegetarian Diet

Like any diet, you need to ensure you eat the right foods from each food group to achieve a healthy, balanced diet. The UK government’s Eatwell Guide shows how much of what you eat overall should come from each of the five food groups: fruits and vegetables, starchy carbohydrates, protein, dairy and dairy alternatives (calcium) and oils and spreads (fats).

To achieve this balance as a vegetarian, the Eatwell Guide recommends that you ensure your diet is made up of approximately:

• 40% fruit and vegetables. You should aim to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day. Each portion should be roughly 80 g and can be fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or juiced. Eating this amount will provide you with the vitamins, minerals, fibres and calcium that everyone needs.
• 38% starchy carbohydrates. For example, pasta, rice, bread, potatoes and cereals. Aim for wholegrains where possible. This will provide you with the starch, fibre, calcium, iron and B vitamins that you need.
• 12% protein. Examples of vegetarian sources of protein include pulses and legumes (lentils, chickpeas, beans), eggs, nuts, seeds, tofu, tempeh and other meat-free sources such as mycoprotein (Quorn products). In addition, these sources all contain fibre, vitamins, minerals and iron.
• 8% dairy or dairy alternatives. Milk, cheese and yoghurt are all good sources of calcium, protein and some vitamins A and B12. Various dairy-free alternatives also often contain calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B12.
• 1% oils and spreads. This includes oils such as vegetable, sunflower and olive, as well as spreads containing these unsaturated fats. It also includes foods high in saturated fats, sugar and salt such as chocolate, cake, butter and crisps.

The percentage of each food group is the same whether your diet is vegetarian or not, and you should use this guide to determine what food you eat.

What are the Benefits of a Meat-Free Diet?

A vegetarian diet comes with a whole range of benefits. Followed correctly, it will have a significant positive impact on your health, the environment and animal welfare. In addition, following a vegetarian diet can also help you to spend less and save more money. Meat and fish are often expensive, especially in comparison to their vegetarian alternatives of vegetables, pulses and beans.

You may also want to consider what you are actually putting into your body. Did you know that red meat can be full of toxins such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that may cause cancer, while some fish contain mercury, another known toxin? It’s also worth noting that processed meat is classed as a group 1 carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation. This is the same category as cigarettes, alcohol and asbestos. Similarly, red meat is classified as a group 2A carcinogen. If you want to avoid putting these into your body, you may want to reconsider your diet.

If you think you’ll struggle to go fully vegetarian at once, there are other ways to start making a conscious effort to cut down on the animal products you eat. You could try to adopt a ‘meat-free Monday’, a campaign launched by Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney in 2009. The idea behind this is to raise awareness of the devastating impact animal agriculture and industrial fishing has on the environment, and demonstrate how eating vegetarian food only for just one day a week comes with benefits.

If every household in the UK was to eliminate meat from just one meal a week, it would have the same environmental impact as removing 16 million cars from the roads. This represents a reduction of up to 8.4% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Health Benefits

You’ve already seen how a vegetarian diet lends itself to fulfilling the recommended proportions of different food groups by the EatWell Guide. A vegetarian diet is naturally high in fibre, vitamins and nutrients and low in saturated fat, particularly in comparison to a non-vegetarian diet. It is proven to reduce the risk of health complications such as heart disease, some types of cancer and Type 2 diabetes. It is also linked to a lower BMI and weight loss.

A concern that some people have about vegetarianism is that it lacks the nutrients found in fish, meat and poultry. However, you can find all these in a vegetarian diet. Indeed, the majority of animals get their protein from plants and so by eating a vegetarian diet you directly get the nutrients you need.

As with any diet though, you need to be eating the right foods in the right amounts to ensure you get this health balance. While a diet of pizza, chips and chocolate may still be suitable for vegetarians, it won’t provide you with the foods you need and so you likely won’t see any health benefits — you may, in fact, feel worse.

It is important that you make sure you are still getting the balance in your diet right. Meat is a source of protein and so you need to replace this with alternatives. For example, lentils, chickpeas, eggs, cheese, tofu, tempeh and other meat-free sources such as mycoprotein (Quorn products) all contain protein. You can also get it from green leafy vegetables like spinach and broccoli, so you have plenty of options to ensure you get the nutrients needed.

Environmental Benefits

Countless scientific studies have found that a meat-free diet has environmental benefits. A 2018 study by Oxford University found that ‘avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way to reduce your impact on Earth’. Eating a vegetarian diet will minimise your carbon footprint and reduce your impact on climate change. This is because a vegetarian diet requires 2.5 times less carbon emissions than a meat diet.

Livestock need massive amounts of land, water, feed and other resources before they end up in the supermarket, a process that totals 30% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. 70% of the world’s soy is fed to livestock, while only 6% actually becomes food for humans. Arguably, these resources could much better be used for humans who are suffering from hunger or food insecurity. The need to breed an unsustainable number of animals for human demand could be avoided if people adopted a vegetarian or vegan diet.

The environmental benefits of adopting a vegetarian diet are vast. In addition to the reasons explained above, it can also reduce:

• The amount of methane and nitrous oxide produced by cattle. Like carbon dioxide, these gases contribute to global warming. If these animals aren’t bred at the rate at which they currently are to meet human demand, the amount of these gases produced will decrease.
• The pollution of water. Rivers and seas can often be polluted by materials involved in the production of livestock. For example, animal waste, antibiotics, pesticides and fertilisers are all known pollutants associated with livestock. Commercial fishing can also pollute the oceans and harm ecosystems. Wastewater may include fish waste from gutting and bleeding and detergents and disinfectants used to clean the holding tanks. Nets and other fishing gear may even be discarded in the oceans.
• The destruction of rainforests. Much of the land that is used for animal agriculture or growing crops that become animal feed would otherwise be natural habitats such as rainforests. As well as causing deforestation, land used for livestock farming often becomes overgrazed. This can then result in soil erosion and desertification.
• The endangerment of species. The destruction of rainforests and other habitats creates an unstable environment and disrupts the natural food chain. This threatens species which are already under threat, largely due to human behaviour, and puts some at risk of endangerment and possibly even extinction.

To get more of an idea of how your food choices impact on the environment, you can calculate your diet’s carbon footprint using the calculator on the BBC’s website here.

Animal Welfare

One of the main reasons people decide to go vegetarian is because they recognise that eating fish, meat and poultry is a cruelty that can be avoided.

In the UK, over two million land animals are slaughtered every single day. Many animals are raised in poor conditions with little space to move around in. As a result, they often develop health conditions, such as skeletal disorders and bacterial infections in the case of chickens. The animals are then transported long distances to be slaughtered where they may suffer from suffocation and extreme temperatures. If they survive this journey, they are then slaughtered in various ways that cause pain and suffering to the animals, often being stunned before bleeding to death.

For some, going vegetarian is a way to avoid being complicit in this. While it certainly does help, you should be aware that the processes involved in creating animal by-products that vegetarians consume, like eggs and cheese, also involve a great deal of mistreatments and cruelty. Humans do not need to consume animal products in order to be healthy and get all the recommended vitamins and nutrients.

If you want to learn more about vegetarianism due to animal welfare, there is plenty of information on websites such as The Vegetarian Society and The Vegan Society.

Vegetarian Meal Ideas

You’ve made the decision to go vegetarian, but you might now be wondering what meals you can actually eat. Many people find that their change in diet inspires them to cook and experiment with food more than before, but knowing where to start can be a challenge.

To help you get started, we’ve collated some vegetarian meal ideas that you could try:

• Spaghetti bolognese. Instead of minced meat, you can use vegetarian mince, fresh or frozen. Most of the major UK supermarkets even do their own brand veggie mince, which can be very cost effective. Or, look out for one of the many meat-free brands including Meatless Farm, Quorn, Naked Glory and Vivera, also available in most supermarkets. You can also buy soya protein mince, or TVP (textured vegetable protein), that comes dried in a packet. If you aren’t a fan of vegetarian mince, lentils also work well in a bolognese instead. Check out the various free bolognese recipes on the BBC Good Food website.
• Jacket potatoes. There are so many tasty toppings you can have on a jacket potato. Try simple cheese and beans, leftover mince from your bolognese or an assortment of roasted vegetables.
• Tarka dal. This is another recipe that is simple, cheap and delicious. We recommend adding various vegetables to this lentil curry, such as spinach, baby plum or cherry tomatoes or potato. Try this recipe from BBC Food.
• Stir fry. These are a quick, healthy option that you can prepare quickly for tea if you’re pressed for time. Stir frys are incredibly versatile and there are many variations, so you’re bound to find one you like. You could add vegetables including broccoli, carrot, peppers, baby sweetcorn, mangetout, mushrooms, onion and spinach, or whatever takes your fancy. Add garlic, ginger or chilli, a sauce such as sweet and sour, soy or a basic stir-fry one and noodles such as rice, udon, wholewheat or glass, and enjoy!
• Lentil lasagne. Instead of a beef mince filling, you can make a delicious lasagne with lentils. BBC Good Food has a recipe that is also vegan and uses canned lentils, but substituting this for red lentils and adding chopped mushrooms also works well.
• Macaroni cheese. Sometimes you just need something comforting and this dish is perfect for that! There are a lot of recipes online, but one that is easy to make and doesn’t require many ingredients is on BBC Food.

To find more recipe inspiration, BBC Good Food has a whole page dedicated to different types of vegetarian food, which you can access here.

If you’ve been considering a vegetarian diet, you should now understand more about the benefits of it and the types of meals you can eat. Being vegetarian doesn’t need to mean a restrictive diet and a lack of choice. You’ll find that pretty much every restaurant or eatery will have vegetarian options, often several that you can choose from. If done right, eating compassionately will make you feel healthy and happy as you live kindly, know what you’re putting into your body and reduce your carbon footprint.

Further Resources:

• Nutrition and Healthy Eating Training
• Will Millennials Finally Challenge the Food Fraud Epidemic?
• Guide to Alternative Milk: Food Safety, Nutritional Benefits & A Good Brew!
• 8 Vegan Myths and Facts

The post A Vegetarian Diet: What Can I Eat & What are the Benefits? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

However, all this Christmas excess comes with a cost, and not just to your pocket and your waistline!

As consumers, we are increasingly concerned with sustainability and the environmental impact our actions have, with Christmas proving to be no different. You might be surprised at how much waste is produced at Christmas each year. Last year, we threw away 227,000 miles of wrapping paper, almost enough for us to paper our way to the moon!

In addition, we waste a staggering 4.2 million Christmas dinners, which includes 17.2 million sprouts. Much of this ends up in landfill, but this wasted food could be recycled through Anaerobic Digestion – a natural process in which micro-organisms break down the organic matter found in waste food to produce heat and electricity.

Recycling the sprouts alone would produce enough energy to power a home for 3 years.

Our article will offer some tips on how best to participate in Christmas recycling, and advice on how you can avoid producing so much Christmas waste.

Reducing Food Waste at Christmas

Each Christmas, we produce 30% more waste than we do in the rest of the year. This includes 1,315 tonnes of wasted turkeys and 375 tonnes of wasted mince pies. Not only is the wasted food a huge problem for landfill sites, but the production of these items and their packaging produce vast amounts of carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, as well as creating tonnes of packaging rubbish.

Many people admit to buying more than they need on purpose from fear of running out of food, and then not knowing what to do with the leftovers.

Supermarkets have taken steps to help consumers use up their food by publishing free recipes for leftovers. Similarly, the Government’s food waste awareness service, Wrap, suggests ideas for reducing food waste at Christmas. Recipe ideas include creating sauces, pickles and soups, many of which can be frozen and used at a later date.

Of course, the biggest way to reduce food waste at Christmas is to only buy what you need, so if no one likes Brussel sprouts, don’t buy them!

Reducing Christmas Wrapping Paper Waste

Wrapping gifts up nicely with ribbons and bows is part of the ceremony of gift giving, as much as we enjoy tearing it all apart when we receive a gift ourselves! However, much of the wrapping paper we use is not recyclable, due to glitter, ribbons and plastics in the paper.

To reduce the amount of wrapping paper that we currently send to landfill, you could use biodegradable paper to wrap your presents. Most brown paper is recyclable and compostable, and as it is unbleached it undergoes minimal chemical treatments during production. You could also get creative with packaging by using newspapers or magazines, or reusing wrapping paper and gift bags you already have. These will look great under the tree and help you reduce waste this Christmas!

If you do need to buy wrapping paper this year, look to buy paper that can be easily recycled. Recently, Marks and Spencer announced that they were removing all glitter from their entire Christmas celebration range this year. This includes their greeting cards, wrapping paper, tags and gift bags. If you are not sure whether the paper you have is recyclable, Wrap recommend doing the scrunch test. Scrunch paper up into a ball and those that stay scrunched up can go in the Christmas recycling.

Reducing Christmas Card Waste

Each year, we buy over one billion Christmas cards and on average send 18 cards each. Meanwhile, Royal Mail deliver around 150 million cards all around the country over the festive period. The majority of these will be thrown away once Christmas is over, causing a huge amount of environmental waste.

You can reduce this impact by encouraging friends and family not to send you a card. Instead, you could even donate the money you would normally spend on cards to a charity, such as the rainforest alliance. With the cards you do receive, how about upcycling them? Get crafty and make your own Christmas cards and gift tags, saving money as well as reducing waste.

If you do have to get rid of your old cards, try and recycle them whenever possible.

Recycling Christmas cards would provide enough power to light 340 Blackpool illuminations!

10 Tips to Try & Reduce Your Christmas Waste

We hope you can take some ideas away from this article. Here are our top tips to help reduce waste this Christmas:

• Send Ecards to friends and family, or choose to donate money to a charity instead of sending paper cards that will be thrown away.
• Consider renting a tree this year as there are companies and garden centres across the country now offering this service. Alternatively, you could buy a potted tree that you can keep year after year. Last year, over 7 million Christmas trees went to landfill, producing 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas. If you do have a tree to get rid of after Christmas, see if your local authority will collect it. Some councils will shred trees into chippings, which they then use in parks.

• Natural decorations can look just as good as shop bought ones, it can be a great festive activity that can involve the whole family. See what you have in your garden already, using things like fresh holly, pinecones and mistletoe can bring festive cheer into your home without costing the earth. The bonus is, when you are done with them, they can go back into the garden and be composted.
• Reuse, recycle or compost wrapping paper wherever possible. If you think creatively, there are some unique ways to wrap presents that still look amazing. Also, by gift wrapping in a more thoughtful way, you might inspire others to do the same, reducing waste even more!

• Look for recycled, plastic-free packaging, or even package-free presents when shopping for gifts.  It is estimated that 125,000 tonnes of plastic packaging are generated at Christmas time, with advent calendar trays and plastic packaging for toys being the worst culprits. Check items for environmentally friendly logos such as Rainforest Alliance, or Fairtrade. It is not just giftware that comes in plastic packaging, when doing your food shop, buy loose food items wherever possible. Many supermarkets will fill up your reusable containers if you ask them. Every bit of packaging you avoid is less that you will have to dispose of.

During the festive season, we consume 175 million mince pies. In terms of packaging, one million mince pies are equivalent to one tonne of aluminium material.

• Experts say that each year, consumers spend around £700 million on unwanted presents. Do you have items you don’t want? Regift them instead of wasting them. Also check out charity shops – many people have big clear outs at home at this time of year and you can find nearly new items looking to be rehomed. Remember gifts don’t always have to be things, give the gift of time spent doing activities, or make vouchers for experiences like bungee jumping.
• Ditch the Christmas crackers, or make your own! Follow the lead set by John Lewis and reduce your amount of single-use plastics used. Many high street shops now sell plastic free crackers made from recycled materials. You can also buy kits to make your own crackers, or how about scrapping them altogether and telling jokes instead?

• One in seven consumers admit to buying more food than they need. When you go food shopping, write a list and stick to it! This will prevent you from impulse buying those little bits that you didn’t need and won’t use.
• If you do buy more food than you need, try to make the most of your leftovers. Take spare snacks round to friends’ houses when you visit, and use up fresh produce in soups or sauces – both of which can be frozen. At the start of the festive period it might be useful to go through your freezers and make sure there is space for leftover food. If you organise effectively, you can prevent food from being thrown away, and leftovers could keep you fed well into the new year!

• Often families will get together over the festive period and share a meal. Consider dividing responsibility for the meal between family members and have each person contribute a dish, or a course. This will help prevent one person from buying too much, is a great way to share leftovers, and will hopefully encourage everyone to avoid waste.

We hope you have learnt some useful tips about how to reduce your Christmas waste this year. We are all becoming more aware of our environmental impact on the planet and with each of us taking little steps we can make a big difference.

Let’s keep Christmas the most wonderful time of the year, and stop it becoming the most wasteful time of the year.

What to Read Next:

• Environmental Awareness
• 7 Times Christmas Health and Safety Was Taken Too Far
• How to Reduce Food Waste at Home
• Planning a Christmas Dinner: Free Checklist
• How to Manage Your Mental Health at Christmas
• Fire Safety Tips for Christmas 

The post How to Reduce Waste This Christmas: Tips & Advice appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

If you’ve ever suffered from food poisoning, you’ll know that the effects are far from pleasant. However, for some individuals, consuming food contaminated with harmful bacteria can have serious consequences.

This article will focus on listeria, a lesser known food poisoning bacterium.

What is Listeria? 

Listeria monocytogenes (listeria) is a bacterium that can cause listeriosis, a bacterial disease. Listeriosis is a foodborne illness, which means that infection usually occurs when an individual consumes food or drink contaminated with listeria bacteria. However, listeria can also pass from person to person, or animal to person.

A recent outbreak of listeria resulted in the death of six individuals after they consumed chicken sandwiches or salads made by the Good Food Chain, the food supplier for several UK hospitals.

This outbreak has received widespread coverage, and may have left you questioning the risks associated with listeria and how you can prevent listeria contamination when cooking at home.

Where Does Listeria Come From?

Listeria bacteria is commonly found in soil, plants and water. This means the bacteria can easily contaminate fruit and vegetable crops. Animals, including sheep, goats and cattle, that consume contaminated food or water are also at risk of contracting listeriosis or carrying listeria bacteria.

For those infected, listeriosis usually causes very mild characteristic food-poisoning symptoms, or no symptoms at all. However, listeriosis can present serious symptoms for vulnerable individuals, which can result in hospitalisation and fatalities in very severe cases.

What Foods Can Carry Listeria?

Listeria can contaminate a wide variety of food types. Foods that have an increased risk of carrying listeria bacteria include:

• Unpasteurised milk and any dairy products made from unpasteurised milk.
• Mould-ripened soft cheese, including camembert and brie.
• Soft blue-veined cheese, such as Danish blue.
• Prepacked sandwiches and salads.
• Pâté.
• Precooked or cured sliced meats.
• Precooked fish and shellfish.
• Raw fruits and vegetables.
• Some pre-cut, pre-packaged fruit, such as melon.

Need a Course?

Our Food Hygiene Training Courses are designed to ensure a comprehensive knowledge of all food safety and hygiene procedures.

Who is Most at Risk from Listeriosis?

Most people who come into contact with listeria will experience no symptoms or very mild symptoms. If symptoms are present, they often occur within 2 – 30 days after infection with listeria bacteria and usually only last a few days. These symptoms may include:

• Elevated temperatures (38 °C or above).
• Muscle aches and pains.
• Chills.
• Tiredness.
• Nausea or vomiting.
• Diarrhoea.

However, listeria can seriously impact anyone with a weakened immune system, such as:

• Pregnant women, their unborn babies and newborns.
• Adults aged 65 and over.
• Those with medical conditions that lead to a weakened immune system, such as cancer, HIV or AIDS, and kidney disease.

Individuals with weakened immune systems have a higher risk of contracting listeria and can experience more severe symptoms. In addition to the symptoms outlined above, susceptible individuals exposed to listeria are at an elevated risk of a listeria infection causing meningitis or septicaemia.

You should consult a medical professional immediately if you believe you have come into contact with listeria bacteria and experience one or more of the following symptoms, as they may be the sign of meningitis caused by listeriosis:

• Severe headaches and a stiff neck.
• Sensitivity to light.
• Seizures.
• Sudden disorientation or confusion.
• Appearance of a rash that doesn’t fade when a glass is rolled over it.

How to Prevent Listeria

The main way to prevent listeriosis is to adopt good food hygiene techniques. To prevent listeria in food, you should:

• Practice good personal hygiene by regularly washing your hands using clean water and soap. You should always thoroughly wash your hands before cooking or eating.
• Thoroughly wash all raw fruit and vegetables in clean, cold water before eating or cooking them.
• Keep your fridge at a temperature of 5 °C or below. You should aim to consume any chilled, ready-to-eat food as soon as possible once removed from the fridge, and at least within four hours.
• Ensure cooked or reheated food is piping hot throughout before eating.
• Follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for storing, cooking or preparing food. Once food has been opened, you should refrigerate it and use it within 2 days unless otherwise stated.

If you have a weakened immune system, try to avoid caring for anyone suffering from the symptoms of listeriosis. Listeria bacteria can spread through contact with infected individuals or animals. Additionally, you should eat and handle high-risk foods with caution and always follow the above guidance.

You may be advised by a medical professional to avoid high-risk foods completely. For example, when pregnant, you should avoid eating certain foods, including:

• Unpasteurised milk and any dairy products made from unpasteurised milk.
• Mould-ripened soft cheese, including camembert and brie.
• Pâté, including vegetable pâté.
• Undercooked foods, including some raw foods such as raw fish sushi and some raw vegetables.

In general, coming into contact with listeria bacteria is rare and you should be able to safely consume food and drink without worry. However, if you are concerned about listeriosis, and how it may impact you if you were to contract it, you should consult a medical professional for further advice.

Further Resources:

• 4 Types of Food Contamination
• What Are The Big 8 Allergies?
• Food Allergies: Myths vs Facts

The post What Foods Can I Catch Listeria From? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.