Starting in August or September of 2007, raw almonds available in the USA, Canada and Mexico, will no longer be "truly raw" due to a mandate passed by the USDA, FDA and the California Almond Board, announcing that all almonds including organic must be pasteurized.
The problem is the law has been passed with little public input (if any) or notification whatsoever. In addition all pasteurized almonds available in the marketplace will still be labeled as raw almonds. Can this be considered fraudulence or an out right lie? Are you willing to give up your food freedom choices?
The primary reasons for passing this law are two isolated outbreaks of salmonella, in conjunction with conventional almond farms a few years ago. To the best of our knowledge no salmonella outbreaks have EVER been associated with organic almonds.
