In terms of net pollution, which product is better – frozen vegetables in a plastic bag or canned vegetables?
So if we’re talking about “net pollution” the real issue isn’t whether the vegetables are frozen or canned but rather how they were grown. Agriculture is a major source of water pollution and the use of fertilizers and pesticides is a primary contributor (more here: http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/np…). Organic products are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, so these should pollute less than conventionally grown vegetables. There will almost certainly be a difference in greenhouse gas emissions for frozen vs. canned vegetables grown under the same conditions. I was able to find an interesting report (http://industrial-energy.lbl.gov…) that gives an indication of the energy involved in freezing food at the factory (586 Btu/lb, pg 37) versus heat sterilizing it (217 Btu/lbs, pg 35). You can’t directly compare these numbers when we’re speaking about emissions because the freezing equipment will be powered by electricity and the sterilizing will be done with s
