Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 NewsTarget does not know the precise temperature that will be used for pasteurizing almonds, but it will without question be a temperature higher than 108 degrees (F), which means the almonds can no longer be considered raw by any reasonable person familiar with the definition of raw.
Outcry from the raw foods community
The raw foods community, not surprisingly, is alarmed at the new rules, which openly condone the false labeling of a food product. Dr. Gabriel Cousens, author of several top-selling books on raw foods and founder of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona (www. |
Jack Challem
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 Figs and almonds (Serves 2)
2 pitted figs (preferably organic) 8 raw shelled almonds
Figs and almonds are a Moroccan appetizer. Figs are extremely sweet, so eat these as special treats, not on a regular basis. Remove the stem, or use it to nibble on the fig. Eat the almonds between bites of the figs. The fiber and the carbohydrates in the almonds will help to buffer the sugar in the figs.
Dates with Peanut Butter (Serves 2)
2 Medjool dates peanut butter
Slice the dates in half lengthwise and remove the pit. With a butter knife, smear peanut butter into the hollow left by the pit. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| Action item
If you're a consumer of almonds anywhere in North America, your supply of raw almonds is now at risk. Contact the Almond Board of California and let them know what you think: http://www.almondboard.com/utilities/FORMContactUs. |
| Thus, any sterilized almond package will contain dead almonds.
There are other technologies that can kill microorganisms without requiring pasteurization. Ozone treatment, for example, is extremely effective at reducing microorganisms and yet requires no high temperatures. Ozone-treated almonds could still be truly raw, but the Almond Board is not actively pursuing large-scale ozone treatments, perhaps due to the cost (pasteurization is cheap and easy, where ozone treatments require investments in expensive equipment). |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Here is the full press release from the Cornucopia Institute:
USDA and Agribusiness Conspire to Mislead Consumers
"Raw" almonds Must Soon be Steam-Heated or Treated with Toxic Chemical
CORNUCOPIA, WI: Small-scale farmers, retailers, and consumers are outraged over a new federal regulation that will require all almonds grown in California to be sterilized with various "pasteurization" techniques. |
| The only exemption to these new regulations will be organic "raw" almonds that will not be fumigated, but will undergo the steam-heat treatment, and small-scale growers who can sell truly raw almonds but only direct to the public from farm stands.
Although foodborne illnesses have garnered headlines in recent years, including contamination of California-grown spinach and lettuce, raw produce and nuts are not inherently risky foods. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| If the almonds are to be pasteurized, shouldn't they be labeled, "Pasteurized"? It seems stubbornly dishonest to cook all the almonds while labeling them "raw." It's an insult to the consumer, too, but it's also par for the course when it comes to food safety: The FDA, after all, insists that both irradiated foods and GMO foods should not be labeled as such because the labels might "confuse consumers." That's right: Too much information is dangerous to consumers! Knowledge might cause them to make the wrong purchasing decision!
As a consumer, I've never felt so insulted in my entire life. |
| So rather than take the risk that a few raw almonds might occasionally be contaminated and harm a few individuals, the industry believes that it's better to harm everyone equally by making sure all almonds are pasteurized or irradiated, rendering them nutritionally deficient. Or, to put it another way, the industry will knowingly put out a nutritionally inferior product to the masses in exchange for a little legal immunity of its own. |
| All this seems to be of no concern to the ABC, which remains convinced that cooked, dead almonds are virtually identical to raw almonds in taste, texture and nutrition.
Many almond growers, not surprisingly, are hopping mad at the ABC for this "pasteurization tyranny" that will now require almond growers to kill a perfectly good product before they can sell it to consumers. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| No reasonable person would dare say that cooked eggs are the same as raw eggs, or that cooked lettuce is the same as raw, fresh lettuce, but somehow the Almond Board of California continues to pretend that cooked almonds are virtually identical to raw almonds. The advocating of this position is, in my opinion, a violation of truth in labeling laws and nothing short of a corporate-masterminded conspiracy to intentionally hoodwink consumers by selling them an inferior (cooked) product that is knowingly mislabeled. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| How the almonds will be cooked
Pasteurization is a heat process that kills microorganisms by exposing them to high temperatures. Unfortunately, the process also kills the enzymes and living qualities of the food in question. Raw nuts and seeds can be planted and will actually sprout, indicating they are alive and vibrant, but cooked nuts and seeds will not sprout, indicating they are dead and have no remaining life force.
Pasteurization is effective at eliminating microorganisms precisely because it kills things. But heat is not a selective killer. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| This most recent example concerns the new rules by the Almond Board of California (ABC) and backed by the USDA to mandate the pasteurization of all commercially-grown almonds in California with substances that include highly toxic propylene oxide (PPO). As reported by the Health Freedom Foundation, propylene oxide is so toxic that it was "...banned by both the National Hot Rod and American Motorcycle Racing Associations, where it had been used as a fuel before being deemed too dangerous. |
| Since September 1st, all the almonds commercially grown in California have been pasteurized or sanitized through either heat treatments or toxic chemical treatments.
Both the Organic Consumers Association (www.OrganicConsumers.org) and the Cornucopia Institute (www.Cornucopia.org) have strongly opposed this almond pasteurization requirement. Today, the Health Freedom Foundation (www.HealthFreedom.net) announced a grassroots consumer action campaign to petition the USDA to suspend these almond pasteurization rules for 180 days. |
NewsTarget has published a CounterThink cartoon on this subject called The Killing of California almonds. Feel free to share the cartoon or post it on your website (along with a link back to NewsTarget).
 Today NewsTarget has also posted an exclusive video interview on the subject of almond pasteurization fraud. In the video, we interview Seth Leaf, co-founder of LivingNutz (www.LivingNutz. |
| And if this doesn't fly, NewsTarget will be announcing a global boycott of almonds grown in the United States (and asking you to join along... |
| This is fraudulent, misleading labeling and it has the effect of causing consumers to realize they cannot trust ANY almonds, regardless of what the package says. After all, if pasteurized is labeled as "raw" then what does "organic" mean on the package? What does anything mean? The words on the package apparently have no meaning at all; at least not one that regular people would understand and agree to. This will ultimately lead to devastating financial losses among U.S. almond growers. In my interview with Seth Leaf, for example, we learn that Seth's company, Living Nutz (www.LivingNutz. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| REPPED: As NewsTarget reported earlier this year, the Almond Board of California (ABC) has decided that all almonds grown in that state must be pasteurized, irradiated or otherwise killed, even when they're labeled "raw." This is necessary, the ABC tells us, for "safety reasons." But who's safety? Certainly not the safety of the consumer, since dead or cooked nuts are far less nutritious than living, raw nuts. |
| It seems stubbornly dishonest to cook all the almonds while labeling them "raw." It's an insult to the consumer, too, but it's also par for the course when it comes to food safety: The FDA, after all, insists that both irradiated foods and GMO foods should not be labeled as such because the labels might "confuse consumers." That's right: Too much information is dangerous to consumers! Knowledge might cause them to make the wrong purchasing decision!
As a consumer, I've never felt so insulted in my entire life. Except, perhaps, for the one time a radio show host accidentally called me a doctor. |
| But why single out almonds in the first place? Spinach has been contaminated with e.coli, and so have numerous other fresh foods (onions, parsley, lettuce, etc.). Will our ever-so-vigilant government now come along and kill all those foods, too? Shall we have a dinner of wilted lettuce, dead almond slices and pasteurized salad dressing made with rape seed oil, MSG and high-fructose corn syrup? That's the food the government will put its stamp of approval on, it seems: Dead, deficient and dirt cheap.
Here's where all this is going... |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| The equipment to sterilize almonds is very expensive. A propylene oxide chamber costs $500,000 to $1,250,000, and a roasting line can cost as much as $1,500,000 to $2,500,000.
Anderson also questions the scientific logic behind the rule. |
| The new rules requiring all California almonds to be pasteurized would also place a heavy financial burden on small growers and family farms, ultimately putting many of them out of business, further concentrating control of the food supply in the hands of a few powerful corporations.
The Cornucopia Institute is concerned about the general trend towards the secretive processing of foods with chemicals or radiation, without honest labeling. |
| The most common method of sterilizing almonds is by propylene oxide fumigation. Propylene oxide is a genotoxic chemical and is listed as a possible carcinogen by the International Agency on Cancer Research. In lab experiments, the chemical leads to gene mutation, DNA strand breaks, and neoplastic cell transformation. It is listed as a "possible" carcinogen because no long-term studies have been done with humans. Its use for treating food for human consumption is banned in the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and most other countries. |
| The new regulation to sterilize almonds coincides with the recent announcement by the Food and Drug Administration that it intends to relax its labeling requirements for irradiated food. The FDA proposal will also allow irradiation, the controversial ionization process, to be called pasteurization -- a reference that is troubling many food safety watchdogs.
"Consumers deserve to know how their food has been processed," said Food and Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| The Almond Board is blatantly and openly stating that cooked almonds will be labeled as "raw." If all these almond deceptions seem a bit hard to swallow, check the definition of "raw" in the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, which states that "raw" means:
1. uncooked, as articles of food: a raw carrot.
2. not having undergone processes of preparing, dressing, finishing, refining, or manufacture: raw cotton.
In direct contradiction to this clear definition, the Almond Board of California is now insisting that cooked = raw.
Think about that for a minute. Cooked is raw.
War is peace. |
| If the almonds were honestly labeled as "pasteurized" or "sterilized," then that would be at least be a defensible position. But to intentionally and deliberately propose that a food product be deceptively labeled is inexcusable in any industry, including the almond industry.
Not enough public comments
The Almond Board of California says the new pasteurization rule is no secret, and it was published in a federal registry that welcomed comments from the public. The commentary period ended in January. |
Luca Turin
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 Benzaldehyde is the proper bitter-almonds smell (contained in bitter almonds), whereas nitrobenzene smells like a mixture of amaretto and shoe polish, and benzonitrile smells like metallic almonds, and hexenal like cut-grass and almonds. My experience of smelling HCN is limited, or I would be dictating this book to sessions of the Spiritualist Society, but my recollection is that it has a clean, woody-almondy smell, again different from all the others. The same applies to all other odour categories: every musk, amber, wood, etc. |
Joerg Gruenwald, Ph.D.
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 AMYGDALES AMARES
Bitter almonds are poisonous.
OVERDOSAGE
AMYGDALES AMARES
10 bitter almonds are said to be fatal for a child, 60 for an adult (a fatal dosage would presumably be already reached at a lower level, given disadvantageous conditions - higher cyanide level in the almonds, intensive chewing). Recommended antidotes include injection of solutions of dicobalt-EDTA or thiosulfates or else application of methemoglobin-forming substances, as for example, amyl nitrite. At the same time, vomiting should be induced or the stomach emptied. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 In fact, almonds are a great way to get heart-healthy oils into your system. There are oils in almonds that can prevent and even help reverse cardiovascular disease. They can reduce your risk of heart attacks and strokes. They even help enhance nervous system function. These oils will also help you regulate blood sugar levels, and there are phytochemicals in almonds that help fight cancer and regulate the growth of cancer tumors. In fact, almonds are one of the healing foods that I name in my upcoming book, Grocery Healing. They are a fantastic way to create a healing effect in your body. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Almond Board of California is destroying the future of almonds grown in America, forcing companies like his to source their almonds from other countries where they still respect raw, living foods and don't try to pasteurize everything. To read the full story on the bizarre almond situation in California (and the willful destruction of the raw almond industry by the ABC), read my report: http://www.newstarget.com/021776.html
Eric Lancaster from EM American (www.emamerica. |
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