The USDA ban on raw almonds is a food freedom issue, not a food safety issue!
[Update July 21, 2022: Small Scale Raw Almonds Under Attack in U.S.; European Imports Unregulated. Currently “small growers are able to operate exempt from a host of expensive and burdensome regulations and sell raw almonds directly to their customers. . . The proposed change would likely drive small growers out of business, lead to imported almonds from Europe not subject to the same regulations and deny consumers the health benefit of this simple nutritious product from sustainable growers.”
[Update: On February 22, 2013: the DC Court of Appeals “held that California almond producers don’t currently have the right to even argue that the USDA overstepped the bounds of its authority with the Almond Rule.” The Almond Rule had actually extended the power of the USDA to “mandate how dairy, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and animals are processed.” (source) Another blow to food freedom!]
Whether or not you eat, or even like, almonds, you should care about the USDA’s ban on raw almonds, because the ban is most certainly a Food Freedom issue. U.S. organic almond growers are not free to sell their natural raw product and we, as consumers, cannot buy raw almonds grown in the U.S. In 2007, the USDA mandated that all U.S. grown almonds be pasteurized (heated) or, for non-organic almonds, gassed with the toxic gas propylene oxide (PPO), a probable human carcinogen. Almonds treated with PPO are banned in Canada and the European Union but allowed, even encouraged by the ban, in the US.
Don’t be fooled if you’ve seen U.S. almonds labeled “raw.” The USDA allows almond growers and processors to label almonds as “raw” even though they’ve been pasteurized or gassed! How about that? Is that truth in labeling?
Why did the USDA impose a ban on raw almonds? A few people became ill from Salmonella traced to open containers of non-organic almonds in 2004. Likely in fear that people would stop buying almonds, large agribusinesses asked the USDA to ban the sale of raw U.S. grown almonds. Since it seems that the USDA almost always does whatever big agribusiness wants, a ban was issued on the sale of US grown raw almonds in the U.S.
There is no similar restriction on imported almonds, even though there is no difference in the risk of illness between imported and U.S. grown raw almonds! US customers now must buy much more expensive imported almonds, if they want their almonds raw and unprocessed. In another strange twist of the law, U.S. growers may ship their raw almonds overseas with no restrictions! Unbelievable but true! They just can’t sell them in the U.S. How weird! Another oddity with the ban–growers can sell their raw almonds at farm stands but not in organic food stores or any retail store. Does this seem like a true food safety issue? Of course not. It’s a food freedom issue! It’s a market control issue.
The ban on raw almonds has hit the California organic almond growers especially hard. Customers who want organic almonds often want them raw and unprocessed. The California organic almond growers sued the USDA in 2008 to regain their right to sell raw almonds. The USDA has pursued this case very aggressively, partly because it is viewed as a test case for the USDA which wants the power to require all raw, healthful foods to be “killed” (the “kill step” so favored by the FDA’s John Sheehan) by pasteurization, gas, irradiation or other processes. The USDA’s view is that “killing” all raw foods is good for the consumer, because killing bacteria makes foods safer!?
Why should we want raw unprocessed almonds instead of cooked or gassed almonds? First let’s just acknowledge that no one should eat almonds gassed with a carcinogenic.
So let’s move to the second treatment–pasteurization/heating of organic almonds. We buy raw almonds because they are rich in nutrients. We don’t want those nutrients damaged or reduced by heating (pasteurization). Almonds are high in protein (with a fairly well balanced amino acid content), linoleic acid (the body’s main essential fatty acid), vitamin E, and contain phytonutrients. They are very good sources of many minerals such as calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. Pasteurization destroys enzymes and valuable phytonutrients and lowers vitamin E content.
Even if heating weren’t destructive of nutrients, do we really want the USDA to have the right to ban any raw foods, any foods? The USDA’s FDA is also trying very hard to ban raw milk. This is definitely a food rights, food freedom issue! If the USDA wins this one, what food is next? It is essential that we have the basic, fundamental right to choose the foods we want to eat for our health and that of our children. Our health and our lives depend on it!
How can we help the California organic almond growers? We can donate to help them win their lawsuit against the USDA. They have already been hurt economically from the lack of raw almond sales, and, as you probably know, this type of litigation takes many years to process through the legal system. Visit Action for Almonds to help with their legal expenses so that they can continue fighting the USDA so they once again may sell their healthy, untreated almonds.
We can also tell others about the attempts to restrict our freedom to choose the foods we want to eat. The more knowledge people have about what is being done to our food supply, the less they will be fooled by misleading labels such as those calling cooked/gassed almonds “raw.” We need accurate labeling. We need to know what’s in our food and what’s been done to it!
Sources:
Staying Healthy with Nutrition by Elson M. Haas, MD,
Almonds, The Weston A. Price Foundation
Additional Information Sources (added August 14, 2015):
Almond (Wikipedia)
Court to Farmers: “You Don’t Have the Right to Fight the USDA!”
Photo credit: Wikipedia
This post is shared on Fill Those Jars Friday: October 19, 2012, Freaky Friday 10/19/2012, Monday Mania 10/22/2012 and Fat Tuesday: October 23, 2012.
Fundamentally, this is an issue of money as is everything else in this plutocracy. You can bet some corporation is profiting from the banning of raw almonds and it’s likely the producers of the canned almond products. I may be wrong but rarely does anything occur in this country pertaining to consumer issues, not a way to restrict one entity so that another entity(s) can grab more money by eliminating competition. This is the way of America today. We are a corrupt corporate run country. As long as lobbyists are allowed to give away huge amounts of money to pay off those lawmakers (FDA) who make these decisions, this will continue across the board with everything we consume, purchase or otherwise pay money for. Corporate American has a “More money is better” attitude, regardless of what the topic of conversation is about.
overhaul the USDA, the FDA, the DEA, The CDC, etc etc etc… tired as can be of crap education, crap food, crap bully bureaucrats.
This makes me so mad!! How dare they (FDA) hide anything from us!! We should have the choice to eat something or not based on our own personal guidelines. I don’t like being kept in the dark on ingredients or how something is processed. It should be mandatory for all labels to be correct and true, no matter how good or bad it is.
This is another infuriating example of how how we are being duped. I wrote about this topic a couple of months ago here: http://www.chicshadesofgreen.com/al-most-raw-almonds-the-deception-of-the-almond-industry/
I was happy to find some real raw almonds in the bulk section of my health food store. They’re Sicilian and they say right on the label “unpasteurized”, so I bought a whole bunch.
It’s absolutely ridiculous how US almonds can be exported and Italian almonds can be imported unpasteurized. Let us just buy raw foods as we want to. And of course, the farmers are losing money in this, it’s the processors that are raking in the profits because they own the machinery.
And they call the US, the land of the free. This is not freedom of choice. and yes, I agree it is all about greed. They are all getting FAT wallets, and we get POISONED &/or DEAD food. I am shamed of what this country has become.The land of the corrupt and greedy. I am understanding more of why many in other countries hate the U.S.
Pingback:ΤΟ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΗΣ ΑΠΑΓΟΡΕΥΣΕ ΤΗΝ ΠΩΛΗΣΗ ΤΩΝ ΩΜΩΝ ΑΜΥΓΔΑΛΩΝ. « fytro
Pingback:ΩΜΑ ΑΜΥΓΔΑΛΑ ΤΕΛΟΣ-ΤΟ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΗΣ ΑΠΑΓΟΡΕΥΣΕ ΤΗΝ ΠΩΛΗΣΗ ΤΩΝ ΩΜΩΝ ΑΜΥΓΔΑΛΩΝ. « fytro
Pingback:ΤΟ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΗΣ ΑΠΑΓΟΡΕΥΣΕ ΤΗΝ ΠΩΛΗΣΗ ΤΩΝ ΩΜΩΝ ΑΜΥΓΔΑΛΩΝ « Stop Alimentarius
Pingback:Ἡ κατανάλωσις ὠμῶν ἀμυγδάλων, βλάπτει σοβαρὰ τὴν ὑγεία. | Φιλονόη καὶ Φίλοι...
Pingback:ΩΜΑ ΑΜΥΓΔΑΛΑ ΤΕΛΟΣ-ΤΟ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΗΣ ΑΠΑΓΟΡΕΥΣΕ ΤΗΝ ΠΩΛΗΣΗ ΤΩΝ ΩΜΩΝ ΑΜΥΓΔΑΛΩΝ. | Φύτρο
Herein lies the reason for the governments intervention:
http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/251-forbidden-fruits-whatever-medicinal-foods-the-fda-forbids.html
Thanks for the link. I noticed that the article also talked about laws against raw milk. The banning and regulation of raw almonds and raw milk are both food freedom issues.
I understood the spirit of the ban differently. Agribusiness may be at odds with Food Freedom; I don’t dispute that. Raw bitter almonds contain ridiculously high levels of cyanide, however.
Whole Foods recalled a bunch of almonds not long ago because they had potentially lethal cyanide levels. Since cyanide ions cause cell death by inhibiting the enzyme required by cells to use oxygen, the risks associated with consuming it are pretty important.
I agree that it’s unsettling for the government to tell us what we can and can’t eat, but I also don’t see that happening here at all. Sure, they’re making it harder to get unheated, unprocessed bitter almonds, but technically no one said you don’t have the freedom to grow them and eat them if we want.
Rather than fighting the government on labeling/processing requirements, I’d love to see more people push for fewer working hours for more people, so there is ample time to grow some of one’s own food. Then again, even if Uncle Sam doesn’t interfere, your neighbors probably won’t be sympathetic to your planting of cyanide-laden almonds in your yard if they have children or pets 🙂 Also, doesn’t it take a long time to grow an almond tree? I admit, the options for obtaining totally raw almonds are very limited if they’re banned in stores. Still, are you sure you want them??
In this particular instance, I believe the government could simply be applying common sense to protect its people.
Interesting points, thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading your thoughts.
I neglected to say that if your claims that the government now has significant additional power to mandate how entire food groups unrelated to almonds are processed compared with before the Almond Rule,. then I wholeheartedly share your concern re: potential for abuse of that power.
According to the Alliance for Natural Health, “The Almond Rule isn’t just about almonds. The rule actually expands the USDA’s powers, allowing the agency to mandate how dairy, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and animals are processed—something they have never been able to do. The USDA is legally allowed to establish minimum standards for farm products based on grade, size, or quality; they can say, for example, that ‘Almonds must be free of salmonella.’ But the Almond Rule changed all that, allowing USDA to claim it can mandate how that outcome is achieved (e.g., “Almonds must be made salmonella-free via one of the following pasteurization processes…”).” (source) It does seem that the ruling has vastly expanded the powers of the USDA to regulate not only the condition of foods but also the exact process required to achieve that condition.
Although bitter almonds may contain potentially harmful amounts of cyanide, all U.S. commercially grown almonds are of the “sweet” variety. (source) Some imported almonds may contain cyanide; however, the USDA ban on raw almonds does not apply to imported almonds. The ban, as mentioned above, is related to an outbreak of salmonella not to the cyanide content of the almonds. (source) Also, when the ban was proposed, “During the rule-making process, the USDA merely regurgitated the findings of the Almond Board, a biased and financially motivated stakeholder. The rule-making process is supposed to be conducted by an unbiased decision-maker without any financial interests, but six out of the ten seats on the Almond Board are controlled by Blue Diamond, an enormous almond producer. The interests of small, organic almond farmers weren’t even considered.” (source) The banning of raw almonds is clearly a food rights issue or imported raw almonds would also have been banned.
Pingback:Vitamin B17 May Treat Cancer But Is Illegal In The U.S.! - Health And Fitness
Pingback:Vitamin B17 May Treat Cancer But Is Illegal In The U.S.! | Destroy Diseases Today!
Pingback:Vitamin B17 May Treat Cancer But Is Illegal In The U.S.! – Beauty and Health
Pingback:Vitamin B17 May Treat Cancer But Is Illegal In The U.S.! | Totally Unique World
Pingback:Vitamin B17 May Treat Cancer But Is Illegal In The U.S.! - Organic House
I use to be able to by raw hazelnuts in the shell from someone who said he did not hurt the squirrels. Now I think the FDA has banned raw hazelnuts and I can no longer get raw hazelnuts in the shell from him. I think there are few nut growers that do not consider squirrels to be the enemy. I think raw nut in the shell are best for the squirrels if you feed them. Today probably most nut growers plant their nut trees, but in the wild Squirrels do a lot of the planting. If you feed squirrels raw nut they may plant some trees for you. We are losing forest and people depend on forest to live. Squirrels do other thing that help forest. A healthy forest has Squirrels.