 |
Health knowledge made personal
|
|
|
Health knowledge made personal
|
Despite a negative backlash from almond producers, retailers and consumers, the USDA has implemented its ruling to require that all raw almonds sold in stores must be pasteurized. The rule went into effect on September 1st, and since then, all retail outlets have been forced to remove true raw almonds from store shelves. Consumers will be misled by this action as there will still be almonds on store shelves labeled as "raw," but they will actually be pasteurized.
One of the FDA-recommended pasteurization methods requires the use of propylene oxide, which is classified as a "possible human carcinogen" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and is banned in Canada, Mexico, and the European Union.
The other method, to be used on organic almonds, involves cooking them briefly. (Hence, not raw.)
Since the decision about the rule was made, Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, has stepped down. He is temporarily replaced by Chuck Conner. This may provide a new opportunity for reversal.
Please contact Conner today to ask that the rule be suspended for 6 months while the public comment period is re-opened.
Write a comment:
|
Almonds: Carcinogens in a Nutshell
Posted Aug 23 07 5:58pm by Nikki F.
Raw and organic almond lovers are appalled by the Department of Agriculture?s decision to pasteurize California almonds sold in the U.S. to retailers and food processors. The Almond Board of California proposed this mandatory sterilization in response to the charge of almonds sickening a few dozen people with the salmonella bacteria both in 2001 and 2004.
Since almonds are tree nuts that neither make nor are usually exposed to salmonella, the most probable sites of contamination were large processing plants with sub par sanitation. It would seem then, that better enforced or increased sanitation standards at plants would be the chosen way to avoid future outbreaks of the disease. But instead of eliminating the problem by handling the nuts in a cleaner environment, the USDA is initiating sterilization.
This approach concerns many almond eaters because the most common method of sterilizing almonds is propylene oxide fumigationā??a method that uses a chemical compound classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a probable human carcinogen. Propylene oxide was once used as a racing fuel because of its ability to add oxygen to gasoline. But due to its ability to also add oxygen to human cellsā??thereby causing cancerā??the National Hot Rod Association banned use of the compound in 1993.
Should you throw out your kernels and light up a Camel? Not quite. Some almonds are alternatively being sterilized by oil roasting and blanching, and organic growers can steam heat their nuts clean. Moreover, growers who sell at farmers? markets and roadside stands are completely exempt from the mandate and can still sell raw, unpasteurized almonds. But since the exempt growers are limited to selling their unsterilized product to consumers, retailers who produce raw, organic almond products are forced to import Italian, Spanish and Turkish almondsā??nuts that the retailers feel are inferior to California?s own.
Will your nuts give you cancer? Starting September 1, they just might.