title: The nutritional value of hot meal components prepared in different ways.
abstract: When the experiment "Convenience foods in hospitals" was planned it had to be established that it is nutritionally justified to replace conventionally cooked hot meals by deep-frozen ones. Therefore a study was devoted to the assesment of the nutritive value, immediately prior to consumption, of hot meal components prepared in different ways, namely: under ideal domestic conditions, in the central kitchens of institutions and industrially deep-frozen. The following meal components were chosen for the study: 6 different types of meat with their gravies, 6 different types of vegetables and potatoes prepared in 2 different ways. In these products the following nutrients were determined: proteins, fat, carbohydrates, iron, vitamin C and 7 vitamins of the B-complex. The study revealed that the nutrient-content of hot meal components immediately prior to consumption is not influenced by the way of preparation. An exception was vitamin C. The deep-frozen meals had a significantly lower vitamin C-content than the meals prepared under ideal domestic conditions.
mesh_terms: D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005502:Food; D005511:Food Handling; D005521:Food Service, Hospital; D005628:Frozen Foods; D009426:Netherlands; D009753:Nutritive Value