nofima.no
Creating value
2013
11
partner:
National Institute of Nutrition
and Seafood Research
Fjordland’s meatballs.
photo: Jon-Are Berg-Jacobsen © nofima
A lot has been said about the content and nutrition in
ready-to-eat dinners. Many people have formed an
opinion that there is insufficient nutrition in ready-to-eat
food and consequently we should not eat it too often.
This analysis has a different conclusion. A ready-to-eat
meal can have the same nutritional content as a home-
cooked meal using the same ingredients.
The National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood
Research (NIFES) has analysed four ready-to-eat dinner
meals from Fjordland AS and found high values of
various nutrients. An assessment of these levels of
nutrients, performed by Nofima, concludes that the
nutrient content in these dishes is comparable with the
equivalent home-cooked food.
The dishes that were analysed for the content of
energy-giving nutrients, vitamins and minerals were:
boiled salmon with herb sauce, potatoes and baby car-
rots; roast pork with sauerkraut and potatoes; meat balls
with mushy peas and potatoes; beef stroganoff and rice.
The documentation of health effects from food
components is complex, and there are many factors that
need to be considered. But one of the test parameters is
the level of nutrients in the food on the plate just before
it is eaten. The storage and heating carried out at the
laboratory was equivalent to what a consumer would be
expected to do at home with a sous vide product from
Fjordland.
The levels of the nutrients analysed for Fjordland’s
dinner products are comparable with equivalent nutri-
tional values in the food database, i.e. the levels calcu-
lated for an equivalent home-cooked dinner. The dinner
products in this report contain the nutrients one would
expect from a normal dinner. The analysed dishes from
Fjordland can form part of a healthy and varied diet on
the same level as equivalent home-cooked dinners.
A comparison of four ready-to-eat dinners to four equivalent home-
cooked dinners shows that they are equally healthy.
Nutrition in ready-to-eat meals
