One of the biggest issues with eating healthy food is the fact that you have to put the effort to make it at home every day. While eating healthily may not be that difficult, it can be tiring to cook every day after you have a long day at work. The best solution for this is meal prepping and freezing foods so that you can reheat them later! Freezing foods for later use is a great way to preserve the foods nutritional value and since you do not have to put the effort into cooking more, you will be able to hit your healthy eating goals much quicker. We even have packaged frozen foods available to help us eat better with pre-heat meals as well as frozen vegetables. Unlike food frozen at home, there is an extra step you must do with packaged frozen food and a new study shows that people usually don’t follow that! And due to you not doing so, you are not only moving backwards for your health, but you are also putting your health at risk!A study in the Journal of Food Protection looked at how over 3,000 people in the US use frozen vegetables. They found that almost 9% of people eat them raw, often in smoothies. That's a problem because raw frozen veggies can have germs. More than 40% of people also said they don't follow the cooking directions on the package, even though they know frozen veggies can have germs. This shows many people aren't careful enough with frozen vegetables. The study authors say we need better ways to keep germs out of frozen veggies before they get to us, and people need to learn how to handle them safely.Why Eating Raw Frozen Vegetables is RiskyFrozen vegetables can have harmful germs, just like any other raw produce. These germs can make you really sick. Think of Listeria, E. coli, and norovirus – these can all live on veggies. Freezing slows down germs from growing, but it doesn't kill them all. So, if you eat frozen veggies raw, you're eating those germs too. Some people, like older adults, pregnant women, and people with weak immune systems, are more likely to get very sick from these germs. Even if you're healthy, you can still get sick. It's just not worth the risk.How to Cook Frozen Vegetables the Right WayFrozen vegetables are super handy for getting more veggies into our diets. But a new study shows that lots of us aren't handling them safely. This could be making us sick. It's important to know how to deal with frozen veggies so we don't get sick. Cooking frozen vegetables is the best way to kill any harmful germs. Heat kills most bad bacteria and viruses. Always follow the cooking directions on the package. They tell you how to cook the veggies so they're safe to eat. Usually, this means cooking them until they reach a certain temperature. Remember, frozen vegetables are not like the pre-cut veggies you can eat right away. They must be cooked first. Think of them like raw chicken, you wouldn't eat that without cooking it, right? It's the same with frozen veggies. Cooking them properly is the only way to be sure they're safe.
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