What's happening with our almonds??

[tvillemom]

Does anybody know. I am in a panic wondering how many lbs. of raw almonds my budget will allow for today, before September 1st. Wasn't that the date of the "NEW" raw almonds:mad:

Wendi

[tvillemom]

:( Does anybody know?????
:( :(

Wendi

[Veganforlife]

I'm wondering that too. Trying to look it up right now...

[tvillemom]

Thanks VFL!! I sure hope the people responsible changed their minds or at least postponed the treatments for awhile.

Wendi

[Evie]

Angela Stokes keeps everyone updated in her online journal about the almonds. They have decided to go ahead and pasteruize them as planned. Starting in September. I thought it was late Septemeber, but could be wrong. I read I think on Angela Stokes site that places that use raw almonds will be buying them raw in spain and other countries that will not be pasturizing them. It is just the California Almonds that are pasturized. This is a bummer.

[JennaBoBenna]

I thought the date was around mid-September. The 17th, wasn't it?

[Frugal Raw]

Go to the California Almond Board site - last I looked, it was September 1st. That doesn't mean that the backstock in the stores has been pulled. Buy what you can locally over the next couple of weeks. Also, there are some growers who are willing to sell direct to the public who will not be pasteurizing - seems a few have found loopholes.

[River Mom]

This was copied from an e-mail sent to me yesterday. I was going to try and edit it cuz it's kind of long but I did not want to tamper with Dr. M's
message. To sum it up...no more raw almonds after march, could this be true. I'd love to have your input on this....



This San Francisco Gate article states that “pasteurization” is a process where “the shelled and hulled nuts are laid out on a conveyor belt that passes through a moist burst of steam to heat the kernel surface to about 200 degrees, killing any pathogens present.”

As gentle and safe as this may sound, pasteurizing almonds means they are no longer natural or raw.

Anytime you heat a food much above 105 degrees you start destroying the value of the food. The higher the temperature the more damage that is done.

The requirement to pasteurize ALL almonds means that it may be next to impossible to find an almond in the United States that's still in the state nature intended, and no one knows how this process will impact the nutritional value or other properties of the nuts.



This is not rocket science folks. Nearly everyone readily accepts that when you cook vegetables to death they do not provide the same nutritional value as when they are eaten raw. Similarly, I have documented the enormous problems with pasteurized milk. It would seem rational to conclude that one would see similar reduction in the nutritional value of the almonds once they are pasteurized. Fortunately hundreds of thousands of Americans are finally appreciating this truth and making a major shift to raw milk.
Meanwhile, in a letter received on April 30, 2007 from Mr. Richard Waycot, the president and CEO of the Almond Board of California (ABC) himself as a response to an article I had posted on my site, I was told that the ABC will not use any heating or radiation to “pasteurize” their almonds. Instead, he explained, they will use propylene oxide in their almond “pasteurization” process. In the FDA’s “Guide to Inspections of Manufacturers of Miscellaneous Food Products,” this process is referred to as “terminal gas sterilization.”

Also, in April 2007, the FDA proposed relaxing the labeling requirements, and allowing companies to use the more palatable term "pasteurized", to describe irradiated foods ,if the radiation kills germs as well as the pasteurization process does. In essence, this means that almonds may not only be pasteurized, but irradiated. Apparently the term “pasteurized” is an OK substitute for “terminal gas sterilization” as well. If the FDA gets its way, as long as the food looks and smells normal, chances are better than good you won't ever know whether that specific food has been "nuked,” or “terminally gassed,” or not.

In his letter, Mr. Waycott also stated, "Pasteurized raw almonds do not differ in any significant way, taste, quality, or nutritional value from untreated almonds. Pasteurization simply reduces the presence of harmful bacteria on those almonds to safe levels while maintaining taste, quality, and nutritional value."

I don’t think so.

Even a simple search for proplyene oxide in Wikipedia provides the following information: "Propylene oxide is a highly toxic flammable chemical compound. It was once used as a racing fuel, but that usage is now prohibited under the US National Hot Rod rules for safety reasons. It is also used in thermobaric weapons. It is an epoxide."

The bottom line is that if any process kills bacteria, it has the potential to cause problems in humans, OR significantly change the quality of the food. The flimsy reassurances that “pasteurized” almonds -- after being treated with prohibited racing fuel -- would be the same as raw almonds are simply false.

As an aside, although many turn to nuts as a health food, I consistently find that overweight patients who find it difficult to lose weight are eating a lot of almonds or other nuts. It is one of the most common reasons why people cannot lose weight, or lose weight slowly, while following a low- or no-grain diet.

Like most whole foods, nuts can have important health benefits, just use them sparingly if you are overweight, and be sure to choose nuts that are ideal for your nutritional type.

If you want to write a letter to the US Department of Agriculture to express your concerns you can follow the model Cornucopia Institute used.and send ti to

Secretary Mike Johanns
United States Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave SW
Whitten Building Suite 200A
Washington, D.C. 20250

[Frugal Raw]

Go here: http://www.almondboard.com/Programs/content.cfm?ItemNumber=890&snItemNumber=450

The implementation date is TODAY:(

[River Mom]

So what does that mean. I have see that site b4.

Can you still get raw almonds??

[Frugal Raw]

Only from independent growers who do not sell to distributors.

[River Mom]

I know you think I can figure this all out.
I'm going to go to the HFS and get a bag of almonds. Will they b raw or not,

RM

[Frugal Raw]

Most likely, no - once their current supply has run out. You will most likely have to find sources online. Those who live in California are more fortunate. They can track the growers down locally.

[River Mom]

Doesn't that upset you.

[Frugal Raw]

Very much so, but this is old news. The FDA has been in cahoots with the Almond Board in pushing this through under the radar. I'll either be ordering online or finding something else I can use. I refuse to line their greedy, worthless pockets further.

To keep up on this kind of crap, check this page periodically: http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/about_us.cfm

[luckitri]

Perhaps someone has asked this already but just in case not I will ask if anyone knows . . .

what brought this to mind was I was in Costco a couple of days ago and they had bags of almonds labeled "raw" almonds. After this pasteurization process are they still going to be able to label them raw or will they be required to inform us?

and was it not Costco that a few years ago had salmonella in their raw almonds?

Salmonella is nothing to fool with but its presence is not restricted to raw vegan food by any means.

[Frugal Raw]

Per the FDA, they will continue to allow them to be labelled as RAW, because some of them will still sprout post-pasteurization. Read the links I posted above for the whole story.

[veganman]

Just to let everyone know, we plan to continue carrying non-pasteurized almonds. Contact me for more info.....

The date is September 1st and it is going forward as of now. There are some places that have been selling pasteurized almonds for some time, so be sure to ask. Ours will continue to be unpasteurized.....:)