We are preparing for a new mini-holiday, family meals and parties, on New Year’s days. Often we have a lot of work during the winter holidays, and we do not even have time to prepare all the dishes characteristic of this period at home, and then the option remains to buy, especially when we talk about products for snacks – drum, lebar, caltabosh – which, especially in cities, they buy.

It is very important when we buy a product to check one thing: the label of the food product, this is the advice of nutritionist Ligia Alexandrescu: “Also important is the expiration date and the integrity of the packaging, because products containing animal proteins are of high quality. perishable and can become toxic if altered.”

The label of the food product will indicate what the relevant product contains: ideally, the relevant food should be described on the label with the word “meat” – and it should be more than 90% – we look at how much fat it contains, taste enhancers – and they should not be there if the product is of good quality – and we also look at the amount of nitrites and the presence of nitrites – says Ligia Alexandrescu.

Lihiia Alexandrescu, sports nutrition, nutrition education and nutrition communication consultant

Ideally, it should be a fresh product, cooked, not smoked – because everything smoked means a greater amount of nitrites – the advice of a nutritionist.

And with regard to the amount of salt, one must again be careful: a high-quality product should not contain more than 1.2-1.4 grams of sodium, salt, per hundred grams of product. A higher amount of salt may indicate a longer shelf life, which is undesirable when we are talking about fresh meat products that have not undergone high processing.

If we also talk about cheeses – because they are also on the shopping list, now, for the holidays – we also look at the shelf life and quality of the food. If we talk about flea markets and producers, then this is very good and even recommended, but you have to be careful, buy only in those places where there are hygienic conditions for storing products rich in animal protein.

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