When a human body dies, and its heart has beated it's last beat, we consider them medically dead. Despite this, the last beat of the heart is still propelling Qi (or Life Force) out into the body, so it maintains some warmth and fluidity, a sign of cellular processes being active, before it goes completely dry and stiff (rigor mortis).At this time the person is apparently dead, as the fuel of the life energy (heartbeat) has expired.
This may be part of why in nature animals eat their meat prey or veggie of choice immediately when hungry(with some exceptions).
If other organic matter that we consume for food has a similar mechanism; then we must take this into account on some level as a portion of the total energy the meal gives the eater. For example, if a plants Qi source is broken when harvested by being uprooted, than it will only have a certain amount of time for that residual Life force to be consumed before it dissipates like the dead person's energy.
This means most frozen and prepackaged food eaten is dead of it's vitality. There is no more life in the food product, only matter and molecules returning to an inorganic vibration that can be rearranged within our bodies. It is like the plant that is torn out of the ground, separated from it's spiritual resource between heaven and earth (the roots and the photosynthesis).
