UV (Cold) Pasteurization

[Tangerina]

Hi, just bought some yummy local apple cider and it says that it is cold pateurized with UV light. I can't find a ton about this on the internet, but I was wondering if anyone knew what sort of effect this has on the nutrient and enzyome content of the cider. The point of the UV is to kill e. coli without having to boil all of the yummy fresh cider. I've killed e. coli cultures in the lab with UV so I know it works but I wonder what it does to the yummy natural stuff in the cider. Any hard facts someone could give me on this issue would be great.

[Queen Shelley]

We've been enjoying local UV touched cider also! Yum-)! It's just so inexpensive during this apple season and tidyer than juicing ourselves. Each week the taste is different because of the types of apples used. This orchard has over 50 types of apples! We don't care too much that it is UV, it's sooo much better than the store bought pasturized bottled version.

[Tangerina]

yeah, that is my take too... actually, honestly after I finished 30 days raw I decided to stay raw with a very limited list of not quite raw things I can enjoy (all of them whole, unprocessed foods) and one big point is that if it is pure fruit or vegetable, I don't really care if it has been cooked or pasturized, because it isn't a bad food, it just isn't as good as if it were raw. So I'm not having a moral dilema over the cider (I even made some hot spiced cider this morn) but I really do wonder if UV is healthier than heat as far as nutrient and enzyme content goes.

I love this yummy local cider, and I love that it is local. I think next week I am going to do a 3-7 day "Autumn Fast" of just apple cider (dash of cinnamon?) and satsumas... two of my favorite autumn foods.

[RawNut]

Quite interesting! I've never heard of UV pasteurization myself but it brings milk to mind. Some manufactures put milk in yellow, light proof containers because light (if it's specifically UV, I don't know) does further degrade the nutrients. UV is a form of radiation though and I do know that irradiated food is not good nor is it alive. I'd like to hear more about this myself. Thanks for posing the question!

Craig

[Tangerina]

Yeah, cuz I know UV can be mutagenic and carcinogenic (skin cancer!?!?!) but I'm not to worried about horrible effects from drinking yummy cider, but I do wonder if the nutrients are still alive.

[RawNut]

I wonder too. I watched an episode of Dr. Know. It was about "the five second rule." As it turned out, the e coli, which was being tested from the food that was dropped on the ground, actually turned up less on food that was dropped on a sidewalk than food that was dropped on a home's regularly vacuumed carpet. The reason was that the e coli, when exposed to sunlight, simply died. The e coli that was tracked into the house remained alive. Another factor that stuck in my mind was the moisture in the food. Jelly beans didn't pick anything significant up while musk melon did.

I wonder if it'd be better to just get raw organic apple cider and add a little ACV to it, as a precaution.

Craig

[Pailani]

Is that the same as irradiated? At any rate, if it's pasteurized in any way, it's killing stuff, and the enzymes might not be considered raw. Even without heat, it's killing enough to call it pasteurized, so I don't think it would be the same as raw food.