Almond Growers Sue USDA to Halt Mandatory Chemical Fumigation of Raw Almonds
by Mike Adams
http://www.naturalnews.com/024132.html
Sept 2008
(NaturalNews) After having their organic almond
businesses devastated by the USDA's bizarre decision requiring mandatory
chemical fumigation of almonds, the almond industry is fighting back. Fifteen
American almond growers have filed a lawsuit against the USDA in an attempt to
repeal the requirements that all almonds grown in California be fumigated or
pasteurized. (Virtually all almonds sold in the United States are grown in
California.)
Since the USDA's ruling in 2007, organic almond growers in California have been
economically devastated by the mandatory fumigation of almonds. Because USDA
rules don't apply to almonds being imported from other countries, however, the
industry has seen a huge shift away from U.S. growers and towards almond growers
in Spain and other countries. Some American almond farmers have even called the
USDA's decision "a plan to destroy the U.S. almond industry and put small
organic farmers out of business."
The USDA's plot to deceive consumers over "raw"
The mandatory almond fumigation requirement is seen by
health-conscious consumers as not merely bizarre, but downright fraudulent.
That's because the USDA's regulations allow fumigated and pasteurized almonds to
be labeled "raw," thereby intentionally deceiving the consuming public and
instantly destroying consumer trust in the labeling of all almonds.
By any honest measure, the people making these decisions at the USDA can only be
described as either idiotic or criminal. To enforce regulations requiring the
intentional mislabeling of raw food seems more like the actions of a criminal
racket than a government agency. While online pharmacies selling mislabeled
pharmaceuticals are routinely raided and shut down by U.S. authorities, when the
government itself engages in similar deceptions, it declares itself above the
law and immune to prosecution.
This lawsuit by U.S. almonds growers aims to overturn the USDA's deception.
These fraudulent actions on the part of the USDA have generated an enormous
amount of criticism from the raw food community, whose members depend on almonds
to make raw almond milk, raw almond "burgers" and other raw foods preparations.
As leaders of the raw foods movement rightly insist, fumigating or pasteurizing
nuts destroys as much as 90 percent of their original nutritional value,
altering proteins and destroying disease-fighting phytonutrients. The USDA,
however, remains remarkably illiterate on this topic, have never made a single
statement acknowledging any qualitative difference between cooked foods and raw
foods.
Is the USDA actually trying to destroy consumer health?
As the editor of NaturalNews.com, I find the USDA's ignorance on
fundamental matters of nutrition to be nothing short of astonishing. As it is
the U.S. government department responsible for much of the food supply, it
should be on the leading edge of nutritional knowledge, not stuck in the 1950's,
before scientists knew about plant enzymes and disease-fighting phytochemicals
that are easily destroyed by heat or chemicals.
Notably, the USDA has also supported the FDA's plot to irradiate the U.S. food
supply while intentionally misleading consumers over the fact that their foods
have been irradiated. See my article, "FDA Plots to Mislead Consumers Over
Irradiated Foods" at http://www.naturalnews.com/023956.html
My only explanation for the USDA's insistence that the U.S. food supply should
be fumigated, irradiated and cooked to the point of nutrient destruction is that
the USDA is pursuing a campaign of intentional nutrient depletion for the U.S.
population. With Big Pharma now deciding key regulatory decisions of the U.S.
government, the USDA's actions seemed designed to create a nation of health
degenerates who will demand unprecedented levels of pharmaceutical "treatments"
that enrich the drug companies.
If that sounds a little too conspiratorial, rest assured that U.S. corporations
engage in conspiracies all the time: Conspiracies to hide negative drug studies,
conspiracies to influence the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid to avoid saying things
like "eat less meat," and conspiracies to ensnare consumers in an endless cycle
of consumption, disease and debt.
In fact, most of what happens between government and private industry today is
founded on conspiracy -- which simply means two people sitting in a room,
plotting how to bilk consumers for the most profits.
Whether the USDA is openly conspiring to destroy the U.S. food supply -- or is
merely run by bumbling idiots who are nutritionally illiterate -- is debatable.
But the results of its actions are not. By destroying the healing qualities of
fresh produce and nuts, the USDA is denying consumers access to the very
plant-based nutrients that are just barely keeping people from developing
full-blown cancer, diabetes and other serious medical conditions. As more and
more fresh foods are destroyed by USDA regulations, our population will spiral
downward into a state of degenerative disease and misery.
Why the USDA is more dangerous than terrorists
In doing so, the USDA will have accomplished what all the terrorists
in the world could not do: Destroying the U.S. food supply and leaving its
population to rot.
It is unimaginable to think that this could be happening accidentally. For
government agencies like the USDA and FDA to put such policies into place,
somebody at the top must be calling the shots. In other words, somebody wants to
deny consumers access to raw food. They want everything to be dead, processed,
fumigated, homogenized, pasteurized, irradiated or otherwise destroyed. This is
most likely being pursued solely for corporate profits (a diseased population is
not only easier to control, it also spends a lot more money on pharmaceuticals
and medical services).
I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: No nation that destroys the
nutritive value of its food supply has any real future. If such policies are
allowed to continue, you can kiss the United States of America goodbye. It will
never survive the disease, death and financial bankruptcy that's sure to follow
such assaults on its food supply.
That's why this lawsuit by California almond growers is so important: It may
allow us to free almonds from the destructive designs of the USDA, restoring the
integrity of this important source of nutrients.
Of course, suing the USDA is hardly the correct response to such terrorism
assaults on our national food supply. If we actually lived in a country that
sought to protect its population, the Pentagon would send a team of Navy Seals
into the offices of the USDA (and the Almond Board of California) with
flashbangs and assault rifles, and they'd arrest these criminals for their
attempts to threaten the U.S. food supply. After sentencing, they could be
shackled and lined up in a California park where consumers could throw -- what
else? -- irradiated rotten tomatoes at them.
What follows is yesterday's press release on this issue from the Cornucopia
Institute:
Almond Growers and Handlers File Federal Lawsuit - Seeking to End
"Adulteration" of Raw Nuts
Lawsuit Would Halt Treatment of Almonds with Toxic Fumigant or Steam Heat
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A group of fifteen American almond growers and wholesale nut
handlers filed a lawsuit in the Washington, D.C. federal court on Tuesday,
September 9 seeking to repeal a controversial USDA-mandated treatment program
for California-grown raw almonds.
The almond farmers and handlers contend that their businesses have been
seriously damaged and their futures jeopardized by a requirement that raw
almonds be treated with propylene oxide (a toxic fumigant recognized as a
carcinogen by the EPA) or steam-heated before they can be sold to American
consumers. Foreign-grown almonds are exempt from the treatment scheme and are
rapidly displacing raw domestic nuts in the marketplace.
Tens of thousands of angry consumers have contacted the USDA to protest the
compulsory almond treatment since the agency's new regulation went into effect
one year ago. Some have expressed outrage that even though the nuts have been
processed with a fumigant, or heat, they will still be labeled as "raw."
"The USDA's raw almond treatment mandate has been economically devastating to
many family-scale and organic almond farmers in California," said Will Fantle,
the research director for the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute. Cornucopia
has been working with almond farmers and handlers to address the negative
impacts of the USDA rule, including the loss of markets to foreign nuts.
The USDA, in consultation with the Almond Board of California, invoked its
treatment plan on September 1, 2007 alleging that it was a necessary food safety
requirement. Salmonella-tainted almonds twice this decade caused outbreaks of
food related illnesses. USDA investigators were never able to determine how
salmonella bacteria somehow contaminated the raw almonds that caused the food
illnesses but they were able to trace back one of the contaminations, in part,
to the country's largest "factory farm," growing almonds and pistachios on over
9000 acres.
Instead of insisting that giant growers reduce risky practices, the USDA invoked
a rule that requires the gassing or steam-heating of California raw almonds in a
way that many consumers have found unacceptable.
"For those of us who are interested in eating fresh and wholesome food the
USDA's plan, to protect the largest corporate agribusinesses against liability,
amounts to the adulteration of our food supply," said Jill Richardson, a
consumer activist and blogger at: www.lavidalocavore.org
"This ruling is a financial disaster and has closed a major customer group that
we have built up over the years," said Dan Hyman, an almond grower and owner of
D&S Ranches in Selma, CA. His almond business relies on direct sales to
consumers over the internet. Hyman notes that his customers were never consulted
by the USDA or the Almond Board before they were denied "a healthy whole natural
raw food that they have eaten with confidence, enjoyment and benefit for
decades."
The lawsuit contends that the USDA exceeded its authority, which is narrowly
limited to regulating quality concerns in almonds such as dirt, appearance and
mold. And even if the USDA sought to regulate bacterial contamination, the
questionable expansion of its authority demanded a full evidentiary hearing and
a producer referendum, to garner public input – neither of which were undertaken
by the USDA.
"The fact that almond growers were not permitted to fully participate in
developing and approving this rule undermines its legitimacy," said Ryan Miltner,
the attorney representing the almond growers. "Rather than raising the level of
income for farmers and providing handlers with orderly marketing conditions,"
added Miltner, "this particular regulation creates classes of economic winners
and losers. That type of discriminatory economic segregation is anathema to the
intended purpose of the federal marketing order system. "
Retailers of raw almonds have also been expressing their unhappiness, based on
feedback from their customers, with the raw almond treatment rule. "We've been
distributing almonds grown by family farmers in California for over 30 years and
we regard them as the common heritage of the American people," said Dr. Jesse
Schwartz, President of Living Tree Community Foods in Berkeley, CA. "We can
think of no reply more fitting than to affirm our faith that ultimately the
wisdom and good sense of the American people will prevail in this lawsuit."
Barth Anderson, Research & Development Coordinator for The Wedge, a
Minneapolis-based grocery cooperative, noted that their mission has always been
to support family farmers. "We weren't surprised when Wedge shoppers and members
wrote nearly 500 individual letters expressing disapproval of the USDA's
mandatory fumigation law for domestic almonds," Anderson said. "Our members
especially did not like the idea that fumigated almonds could be called 'raw.'"
According to the USDA, there is no requirement for retailers to alert consumers
to the toxic, propylene oxide fumigation or steam treatment applied to raw
almonds from California.
"This rule is killing the California Organic Almond business," said Steve
Koretoff, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and owner of Purity Organics located in
Kerman, CA. "Because foreign almonds do not have to be pasteurized their price
is going up while our price is going down because of the rule. It makes no
sense." Koretoff added.
Two groups of consumers that have been particularly vocal in their opposition to
the almond treatment rule are raw food enthusiasts and vegans. These consumers
may obtain as much as 30% of their daily protein intake from raw almonds, after
grinding them for flour and other uses. Studies exploring nutritional impacts
following fumigant and steam treatment have yet to be publicly released. A
Cornucopia Institute freedom of information request for the documents is
awaiting a response from the USDA.
"We raw vegans believe raw foods, from non-animal sources, contains valuable
nutrients – some not yet well-understood by scientists," stated Joan Levin, a
retired attorney living in Chicago. "These nutrients can be destroyed by heat,
radiation and toxic chemicals. We support the continued availability of fresh
produce free of industrial age tampering," explained Levin.
Cornucopia's Fantle noted that the Washington, D.C. federal district court has
already assigned the almond lawsuit a case number, beginning its move through
the judicial system. "We believe this is a strong legal case and hope for a
favorable decision in time to protect this year's almond harvest," Fantle said.
Buzz up!170 votes
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and technology pioneer
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