Does Dehydration Reduce the Nutrient Value in Quality of the Food?

According to nutritional sciences department at the University of Missouri Extension, there is an adverse effect on nutritional value of dehydrated foods. In the article, “Food Preservation Drying Foods,” the extension advocates for a reconsideration of the constant support for dehydration, it explains that drying is one of the oldest methods of food preservation. Techniques have been passed from one generation to another based on what worked and what didn’t. Methods used for drying food have become sophisticated over time. Today the variety of dried foods in the market place has created a multimillion dollar industry. The nutritional value of food is affected by the dehydration process because of methods of food dehydration. Although some people say that food dehydration Is good, there are negative effects do to nutrient laws because of modern technology and food dehydration, because of the problems with dehydration, because of the value of dehydration versus loss in nutrients. Salting, drying in the sun, an open room, or in stove tops are some methods to use when dehydrating food. Some people used salt to dehydrate foods (University of Missouri 1). The sun and wind was used in 12,000 B.C to preserve food (Nummer 1).When using a dehydrator you would need a large space to work Nummer 4). Dehydration is drying out food, and taking the moisture out of foods (food dehydration 2). Some food can be dried in an oven, dehydrator, and in a microwave (University of Missouri 1). When doing oven drying it is very important to control the temperature in the oven because it could cook the food instead of dehydrating the food (University of Missouri 2). Most of dehydrating is dried out by heat. Dehydrated meat will stay fresh for up to six mo...

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...ure content. The goal of dehydration is to minimize moisture content of the food this is also minimizes microbial growth.

When people take the moisture in the food it makes the food smaller (food Dehydration 2). The most important thing about food dehydration is making the food last a long time (food dehydration 2 ). When blanching the vegetables it results in some loss of vitamin C, B complex. When dehydrating foods the fiber does not change (University of Missouri 1). Iron is not destroyed by drying (Drying Vegetables). There are fewer calories in regular food than there are in dried food. There is so much more calories in dried food because concentration of nutrients. Vitamin A is fairly well retained. Vitamin C is mostly destroyed during blanching and drying the vegetables. Dehydrated food has less than 2.5 % of water (Introduction to Dehydration of Food 3).