In our previous article on ,,Frequently asked questions TOP3", we have selected the round"What is this green poop on the package?". Now we'll take a look at the runner-up,"If there's no preservatives in it, what's stopping it?".
Anyone who is a conscious shopper, a curious shopper or a food allergy sufferer and who encounters our food for the first time will be pleased to read that all POLCZ ready meals are made without preservatives.
Then, in the Product specification page, you will probably find that all our food lasts for almost a year.
And here, many of you may ask (and we know that many of you will, because there are many questions on this subject), but what makes them last so long?
Well, the answer is very simple: a traditional canning process, namely heat treatment. To be more precise: the basics are traditional, the technology is modern.
Of course, our article doesn't end here, so we'll share everything you need to know about this procedure. But let's start at the beginning!
Why does food spoil?
As is well known, the rate at which food spoils is also greatly influenced by temperature, as microorganisms multiply faster in hot conditions. This is why, for example, a vegetable or a cooked lunch left in the cupboard on a summer's day will become "hairy" more quickly. Let's face it, with food this is not so much a problem as an embarrassment.
Refrigeration slows down this process, which is why everyone uses a fridge at home to store food and ingredients.
Of course, this doesn't mean that your cooked soup will last for months if kept in the fridge, because as mentioned above, refrigeration only slows down spoilage.
But there are also a variety of ways to preserve food for longer periods of time. There are four conditions for spoilage (temperature, nutrients, water and chemistry), and if one of these conditions is not ideal for bacterial growth, the spoilage process can be interrupted. Think of freezing (where not only the temperature drops drastically, but also water deprivation) or the acidification of vegetables (where the pH changes).
So should all food be frozen?
Well, if you have a large fridge in your home, or an extra cooling room, this is easy to do.
But for most of us, this is not an option. In fact, the freezer capacity of our fridge is pretty finite. And let's face it, it would be a nuisance if the POLCZ ready meal you've chosen for lunch thawed out of the freezer by the time you got to the office...
Freezing is undoubtedly a great solution for storing cooked food for longer periods of time, or for storing vegetables and fruit. But it should also be remembered that there are certain ingredients (potatoes, for example) that are particularly bad for defrosting after freezing.
So this is not a perfect and universal solution either.
And what about jars?
We are getting close to a solution, after all, the POLCZ ready
I'm sure everyone has eaten home-made jam, because every year grandparents used to save some of the season's fruit. Of course, they are unrivalled, and even on a frosty winter morning, they bring the flavours of summer to your mouth.
Jams and preserves don't need to be stored in the fridge, but they can last for years on the pantry shelf.
They are very easy to preserve, although they often contain chemical preservatives.
The term "stewing" or "stewing" is probably familiar to many of you, especially as there is a renaissance in the cooking of home-made jams. And recently, it has become even more popular at home, as the curfew has given many people time to try their hand at this form of cooking.
The process is to pour the boiled jam (with added sugar to help preserve it) into the thoroughly cleaned jars while they are still hot, then seal the jars with an airtight lid and turn them upside down for about 5 minutes. This creates a vacuum in the jars due to the heat. Then turn them upside down and leave them to cool in a warm place (e.g. in a crate lined with blankets).
This way you can enjoy the flavours of summer for a long time without preservatives.
Thermal management
As you can read in the "POLCZ story", it all started with a lecho, which means that not only jam but also ready-made food can be preserved in a similar way.
The "traditional" method is mainly suitable for preserving fruit, and the food industry has stricter rules than for home preserves. But the basic principle remains the same: at high temperatures, spoilage bacteria are no longer viable. It should be remembered, however, that as soon as the temperature drops and all other conditions are right (see conditions mentioned above), they will start to multiply again. This is why it is important to have a vacuum to interrupt this process by keeping the air out.
So, what does it look like when cooking POLCZ food?
We won't tell you any "workshop secrets", but we will tell you what we can.
In the food industry, there are many regulations that apply to the storage and preparation of ingredients, the cooking itself and the cooking process, which of course must be followed.
There are various ingredients in our food, such as vegetables, fruit, dry goods and in some recipes meat, which need to be particularly carefully considered.
This is mainly because, for example, fruit with acidic chemistry has a higher chance of spoilage than vegetables or meat, so if the heat treatment is not perfect, unfortunately the food can also spoil. And we would rather not dwell on the consequences...
In contrast to home heating, food is cooked here at temperatures and pressures permanently above 100°C, so any harmful micro-organisms that would cause spoilage are destroyed. The process involves heating, keeping warm and cooling the products according to a specific heat treatment formula. The control is done by measuring the core heat of the product.
And after the boiling, a larger number of samples are tested after a week in the thermos by microbiological laboratory measurements, thus proving that the heat treatment has been successful.
As you can probably see from the description, this process is much more time-consuming and complicated than home canning (where keeping the temperature above 100°C under pressure would be difficult) and requires a lot of skill and attention.
The result of this process is that POLCZ ready meals can be kept on the shelf for almost a year without refrigeration, and when you open them, they are ready for lunch or dinner after 2 minutes of heating. As if you had just cooked it. Without additives, preservatives, dairy, eggs or added sugar.
And of course, you don't have to worry about it melting in your bags on the way to work...
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