Super Eco

Photo credit: stevendepolo, flickr

Which is greener, frozen veggies or canned? After a little investigation, it turns out that this is one of those loaded questions like, "When did you stop beating your wife?"

Energy Use. If you just want to talk about the energy expended in making the packaging, preparing the food, and then storing/transporting it, there's no clear winner. Frozen food wins in the packaging-making department, but it takes more energy to can than freeze food. But if that food sits in your freezer (as opposed to on a pantry shelf), storing it uses more energy. The winner? According to Treehugger, it's pretty much a dead heat.

Now things get sticky.

What's in that can? For one thing, fewer nutrients. According to the FDA, a third to half of certain key vitamins are wiped out in the canning process. Then there's botulism. Bulging cans? Uh uh, back away slowly. And there's the question of the can itself: they're no longer seamed with lead, but many cans have a lining that includes Bisphenol-A.

Frozen food isn't exactly safe, either. The are major breakdowns in the safety of our food supply, as evidenced by the recent peanut butter salmonella outbreak, e.coli in the spinach, and the like. Salmonella? Turns out it's in frozen pot pies, too, though maybe you never heard about that. And frozen food makers would like to shift the burden of safety upon us, the consumer. Hey, it's so much easier that way! Simply direct us to "heat properly," cross your fingers, and you're golden. Problem is, we're not going to use an internal read thermometer to check the temperature of our pot pies and family-sized lasagnas and Hungry-Man Dinners. We expect frozen food to be sterile. Safe.

Best answer? Grow your own food. Invest in community-supported agriculture. Buy from local farmers. Those options don't work well for everyone, but the more we support them, the easier it will all be. But buy the best produce you can. And then get on the case of your elected officials, because a safe and nutritious food supply is a basic right we all can expect.