Fashionable technocrats have discovered plenty of methods to smash our meals — like speedy heating of milk as much as 240 levels, zapping with microwaves, irradiating with radioactive supplies, spray drying at excessive temperatures, extruding at excessive temperatures and pressures and embalming with sugar. Now a brand new know-how has come on the scene: ultra-high strain utilized to a wide range of meals for people, pets and infants.
HPP — Excessive Strain Processing
Excessive Strain Processing (HPP) is outlined as “a non-thermal meals and beverage processing method based mostly on the appliance of excessive ranges of hydrostatic strain transmitted by water, with a number of benefits for meals and beverage corporations.” That strain is one thousand instances the strain of air at sea stage — the equal of water strain in a marine trench.
You may learn all about it at hiperbaric.com and see the way it works for juice, for shelf steady meals able to eat, and for “uncooked” pet meals. HPP will open oysters with out tough shucking — after the processing, simply open along with your hand and the oysters — considerably discolored — slither out! The method makes crab and lobster simpler to take away from their shells.
Examples of high-pressure processed merchandise commercially obtainable within the U.S. in the present day embody fruit smoothies, guacamole, ready-to-eat meals with meat and greens, oysters, salad dressing, hummus, ham, rooster strips, fruit juice, salsa and fruit purees for infants. You received’t discover any explicit image displayed (as for irradiation) to point whether or not a product has undergone HP processing, however you may see the phrases “chilly pasteurized.”
The meals trade claims that “HPP has the potential to supply high-quality meals that show traits of recent merchandise, are microbiologically secure and have an prolonged shelf life.” The declare that HPP meals are “microbiologically secure” just isn’t precisely right.
What Are the Lengthy-Time period Well being Results of Consuming HPP Meals?
A 2008 overview1 entitled “Excessive-pressure processing — results on microbial meals security and meals high quality,” appeared on the results of excessive strain processing on numerous pathogenic organisms and located that it didn’t eradicate all of them; the researchers discovered that spores had been particularly proof against excessive strain — simply as they’re proof against warmth.
However what we actually need to find out about are the well being results — long-term well being results — of consuming HPP meals. Because the trade plunges headlong into excessive strain processing, nobody actually is aware of.
No research on long-term the feeding of HPP meals to mice or rats — and even canines getting HPP “uncooked” pet meals — seem within the literature. I did discover one research, revealed within the Journal of Dairy Science, 20192 which explored the feeding of HPP colostrum to calves. Stated the researchers:
“The outcomes of this research recommend that prime strain processing of bovine colostrum maintains a suitable IgG stage whereas reducing bacterial and viral counts,” but in addition noticed:
“Calves fed pressure-processed colostrum had comparable serum IgG however decrease effectivity of absorption than calves fed heat-treated colostrum [emphasis added]. Adjustments in viscosity typically made calf feeding tougher, however nonetheless possible. Extra analysis to optimize this know-how for on-farm use is important.”
The meals trade is salivating over the concept of making use of HPP to exploit. The primary to do that was the Mexican firm Villa de Patos, which claimed that it was “recent” (that’s “uncooked”) and had an elevated shelf life when refrigerated.
HPP Dairy Expertise
Just a few years later, the New South Wales Meals Authority accepted the commercialization of HPP milk within the Australian state. The corporate, Made By Cow, developed a course of for the “secure manufacturing of by no means heated and non-homogenized milk,” which they might promote as “secure uncooked milk.” Certainly, the processing made the milk barely thicker and yellowish, which might mimic the viscosity and shade of Jersey milk even when it got here from Holstein cows!
With uncooked milk gross sales booming, and pasteurized milk gross sales declining, we are able to anticipate to see the dairy trade launch “cold-processed” pressure-treated milk within the U.S. Will this milk have the identical advantages as actual uncooked milk? A letter revealed within the Summer season 2021 problem of Sensible Traditions3 signifies that the reply isn’t any!
“For a few years I’ve been consuming uncooked milk from a pastured dairy in France referred to as Gaborit,” wrote our correspondent. “Nonetheless, due to COVID and closed borders, I used to be unable to acquire this milk for eleven months and was compelled to drink a substitute milk from Switzerland.
Once I started to have bother with my enamel, I started to suspect the likelihood that the native ‘uncooked’ milk (Rohmilch in German) is likely to be thermized (heated) though to not the temperature of pasteurization (or maybe microfiltered or no matter).
What most aroused my suspicions was the expertise of a pal, supposedly milk illiberal (and who hasn’t drunk animal milk for twenty years), who sneezed (pink eyes as a bonus) a couple of minutes after having taken a sip of this ‘native’ Rohmilch.
She made it clear to me how irritated she was by this expertise, and he or she fervently blamed herself for giving in to my suggestion. Nonetheless, I have to admit that I used to be the primary to be shocked by the response she developed so rapidly after consuming only one sip. I had concluded that she was maybe one of many only a few individuals who had been really illiberal to animal milk, even when it had been uncooked.
However, just a few weeks later, she agreed to check the Gaborit milk (from Jersey cows), which I once more had entry to. She not solely had no response to it, however she even felt so good that she drank an entire glass half an hour later.
In the course of the eleven months with out the Gaborit milk, I developed 5 small cavities, as verified by my dentist. I had an appointment to have them stuffed, and whereas ready, was capable of get the French milk once more. I went to the dentist in the present day and he or she couldn’t consider her eyes.
Within the house of lower than a month throughout which I used to be as soon as once more capable of acquire the true licensed uncooked milk from France, all of the beforehand broken enamel had calcified and hardened as a form of self-healing, to the purpose that she instructed me that there was nothing extra that wanted to be achieved.
The milk produced by the Swiss dairy is biodynamic and has the Demeter label. The cows are brown Swiss. I due to this fact assume that the cows are fed based on anthroposophical pointers. Nonetheless, this dairy additionally produces pasteurized milk, so I questioned whether or not their Rohmilch is de facto 100% uncooked and, above all, non-thermized.
Once I contacted them, they assured me that the milk was not heat-treated in any means, solely that they handed it by a cellulose membrane aimed to take away any impurities or dust from the milk — however I feel that is achieved with all milk and isn’t a dangerous course of except achieved beneath excessive strain.”
We have no idea whether or not this milk was handed beneath strain by a membrane or subjected to the identical excessive strain processing methods now used for juice, smoothies and so many different “chilly processed” meals, however it’s clear that strain reduces the therapeutic properties of Nature’s good meals.
Since we don’t know what HPP does to the dietary qualities of the meals we eat, it’s finest to train warning: make your individual salad dressing, salsa and guacamole, prepare dinner from scratch, solely purchase oysters which have been shucked earlier than you, and above all, keep on with actual, uncooked milk bought straight from a farmer you already know.
Concerning the Creator
Sally Fallon Morell is writer of the best-selling cookbook Nourishing Traditions and plenty of different books on eating regimen and well being. She is the founding president of the Weston A. Value Basis (westonaprice.org) and a founding father of A Marketing campaign for Actual Milk (realmilk.com). Go to her weblog at nourishingtraditions.com.
