By Jonathan Evans
Herbal Information Specialist/
Business Representative for the Herbarium
I was in the grocery store the other day and spotted a package of crab claw meat. When I got home, my wife, Kathy looked at the package suspiciously.
The package looked innocent enough but in checking the “use by “date it was listed as May, 2017. This was a refrigerated package – not frozen. How could fresh crabmeat last over a year? Further reading revealed the crab had been “pasteurized.”
Pasteurized verses ‘pasteurized’
Louis Pasteur must be rolling over in his grave. The noted French scientist developed his namesake process in 1864 by which milk and other foods were made safer to eat. His form of pasteurization involves the heating of foods for a select period of time to kill dangerous organisms – but not destroy all the nutrients in the food.
Most people are familiar with milk being pasteurized, which in the original pasteurization method means it is held at 72° Celsius –161° Fahrenheit – for 15 seconds to kill bacteria and pathogens (there are other processes with varying times and temperatures). This is all well and good, but now the government has found an easy way for nuclear weapons waste to be used for a profit and to lull you, the consumer, into a false sense of security by calling another process used to kill bacteria and pathogens on foodstuffs “cold pasteurization.” This process is actually food irradiation.
Why the concern?
My wife and I have battled against food irradiation for years. Simply stated, in the irradiation process foods are exposed to ionizing radiation – usually cesium-137 –, which is a by-product of the nuclear weapons industry. This process kills bacteria, pests, and other organisms. Unfortunately the process also does a number on the food product. It destroys much of the vitamin content, and leaves behind an inert substance. Sure, irradiation kills bacteria and insect debris or eggs that may have been on the food, but it also destroys the natural condition of spoilage that warns consumers something is bad. And … what is to stop reinfection after treatment? Nothing. Irradiation also creates something called “unique radiolytic products” which many believe to be carcinogenic. Back in the 1970s irradiated grain was shipped to India and fed to the poor. It was thought irradiation would protect the food from spoilage in the sub-continental heat and humidity. Unfortunately, children consuming this grain developed pre leukemic cells. Once the irradiated food was withdrawn the children’s bodies went back to normal. When confronted by this information pro irradiation concerns pooh-poohed the story with comments saying this was old information. Old information? Gravity is old too, but it still works! What does age have to do with the validity of facts?
A clearer picture
So, back to “pasteurization”. Why the obfuscation? Why the deceit? Simple, if you, the consumer, saw “ Irradiated” on the label you would probably not buy the product. Pro-irradiation groups say the word would alarm the public. Damn straight and it should. As a consumer, you are not even aware of the amount of irradiated food you are already consuming. Some meat and poultry has been irradiated for years. Some of the herbs and spices you buy at the grocery have been irradiated, as are some of the ingredients on a pizza, but since it is an added item, not the main product, no labeling is required.
There was a time when a symbol “the radura” was supposed to be used on these products, but that fell flat. Now they call it “cold pasteurization” or some other ridiculous term. Do you remember reading “ Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley? Does this sound familiar? Sometimes I wonder just who this government is actually working for.
For more information on irradiation and our food supply, use your favorite internet search engine or check out these links: https://organic-center.org/reportfiles/IrradiationReport.pdf
www.mercola.com/article/irradiated/irradiation_dangers.htm
https://www.organicconsumers.org/old_articles/irrad/actions.php
— Jonathan
Please send your questions on botanical remedies to Natures Rx: Jonathan Evans via email at herbarium258@gmail.com, or by regular mail to: The Herbarium, 264 Exchange St., Chicopee, Mass. 01013. If requesting additional information from Evans, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope.
