diff --git a/Are-Frozen-Fruits-and-Vegetables-Healthy-and-Safe%3F.md b/Are-Frozen-Fruits-and-Vegetables-Healthy-and-Safe%3F.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f52641a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Are-Frozen-Fruits-and-Vegetables-Healthy-and-Safe%3F.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+<br>Are Frozen Fruits and Vegetables Healthy and Safe? At Consumer Reports, we’ll always tell you what we find with our testing-it’s important to highlight when products and services excel and when they fall short. When we look at food through a safety lens, unfortunately we often find reasons to be concerned-whether that’s because of substances like heavy metals in supplements, baby food, or spices, or disease-causing bacteria such as E. coli in ground beef. But sometimes, as is the case with CR’s recent tests of frozen fruits and veggies, we get good news. Our food scientists recently tested more than 300 samples of eight types of frozen produce and didn’t find any harmful bacteria. Most frozen vegetables are blanched in hot water or steamed before freezing, which may lead many to think they are already cooked and risk free-people let their toddlers snack on frozen veggies, or might toss them into a salad without cooking them first. But though frozen produce is convenient and generally safe, it may still harbor bacteria that cause foodborne illness, such as Listeria monocytogenes or salmonella.<br>
+
+<br>In 2016, there was a recall of more than 450 frozen produce items from at least 42 brands because they were linked to a multistate outbreak of listeriosis, the disease caused by Listeria monocytogenes. Since then, frozen fruits and vegetables have been recalled at least 20 times because of possible contamination with listeria, hepatitis A, or norovirus, according to data from the Food and Drug Administration-often discovered as a result of routine testing, not because someone got sick. "Produce can be contaminated at a farm or when it’s harvested," says Sana Mujahid, PhD, manager of food safety research and  [ZapClean Official](https://www.xn--3dkvalq0cx455coz1c.com/wiki/index.php/%E5%88%A9%E7%94%A8%E8%80%85:Claire97G7) testing at Consumer Reports. Listeria is of particular concern. Most healthy adults exposed to the bacteria typically don’t get very sick, though some may have fever and diarrhea, similar to other foodborne germs. But people who do develop listeriosis often need to be hospitalized, and about 20 percent die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those at highest risk are immunocompromised people, newborns, older adults, and pregnant people (an infection can lead to miscarriage).<br>
+
+<br>And once listeria contaminates a production facility, getting rid of it can be extremely difficult, especially because freezing doesn’t kill it and it can grow and thrive at refrigerator temperatures. With that history in mind, CR’s food scientists wanted to evaluate frozen fruits and veggies to assess how high the risks are-especially because frozen food sales have increased during the pandemic, according to the [American Frozen](https://www.wonderhowto.com/search/American%20Frozen/) Food Institute. According to a 2021 AFFI report, sales of frozen fruit spiked almost 30 percent during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, and sales of frozen vegetables grew about 15 percent. For our tests, we looked for E. coli, listeria, and salmonella, types of bacteria that commonly cause foodborne illness, in eight frozen categories-avocado, berries, corn, mangoes, peaches, pineapple, spinach, and smoothie mixes. In total, we included 369 items from big brands, private label, and store brands, including 365 by Whole Foods, Blendtopia, Birds Eye, Campoverde, Dole, Great Value, O Organics, and Trader Joe’s.<br>
+
+<br>The results were reassuring. "We didn’t detect bacteria that could make someone ill," Mujahid says. Since 2017, the frozen food industry has taken steps to try to reduce the risk for listeria, according to the AFFI. In 2019, the group published its Listeria Control Program resources, which recommended best practices for frozen food manufacturers, including sampling for listeria and ways to routinely clean and sanitize industrial freezing equipment. Still, there’s always some risk, and our findings don’t mean that all frozen [ZapClean produce cleaner](http://scubarama.ca/index.php/Utilisateur:OctavioIsabelle) is pathogen-free. We didn’t test for hepatitis or norovirus, which requires a different test. And from 2017 to 2021,  [ZapClean vegetable cleaner](https://simtrepainty.cz/index.php?title=U%C5%BEivatel:RudyGriffiths15) frozen fruits and vegetables were responsible for more recalls due to listeria, norovirus, or hepatitis A than any other frozen food category, according to CR’s food safety team. "That’s why heating frozen vegetables is important, especially for people at high risk," Mujahid says. Yet it’s a common misconception that you don’t need to cook frozen vegetables, even when packaging says these products are meant to be cooked.<br>
\ No newline at end of file