Fashionable technocrats have discovered a lot of methods to spoil 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 stress utilized to quite a lot of meals for people, pets and infants.
HPP — Excessive Stress Processing
Excessive Stress Processing (HPP) is outlined as “a non-thermal meals and beverage processing approach based mostly on the applying of excessive ranges of hydrostatic stress transmitted by water, with a number of benefits for meals and beverage firms.” That stress is one thousand occasions the stress of air at sea degree — the equal of water stress in a marine trench.
You possibly can 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 together 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 accessible within the U.S. at this time 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 gained’t discover any specific 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 business claims that “HPP has the potential to supply high-quality meals that show traits of contemporary merchandise, are microbiologically protected and have an prolonged shelf life.” The declare that HPP meals are “microbiologically protected” will not be precisely right.
What Are the Lengthy-Time period Well being Results of Consuming HPP Meals?
A 2008 evaluation1 entitled “Excessive-pressure processing — results on microbial meals security and meals high quality,” regarded on the results of excessive stress processing on varied pathogenic organisms and located that it didn’t eradicate all of them; the researchers discovered that spores had been particularly immune to excessive stress — simply as they’re immune to warmth.
However what we actually need to learn about are the well being results — long-term well being results — of consuming HPP meals. Because the business plunges headlong into excessive stress processing, nobody actually is aware of.
No research on long-term the feeding of HPP meals to mice or rats — and even canine getting HPP “uncooked” pet meals — seem within the literature. I did discover one research, printed 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 stress processing of bovine colostrum maintains an appropriate IgG degree whereas lowering bacterial and viral counts,” but additionally noticed:
“Calves fed pressure-processed colostrum had related 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 critical.”
The meals business is salivating over the concept of making use of HPP to take advantage of. The primary to do that was the Mexican firm Villa de Patos, which claimed that it was “contemporary” (that’s “uncooked”) and had an elevated shelf life when refrigerated.
HPP Dairy Expertise
A couple of years later, the New South Wales Meals Authority authorized the commercialization of HPP milk within the Australian state. The corporate, Made By Cow, developed a course of for the “protected manufacturing of by no means heated and non-homogenized milk,” which they might promote as “protected uncooked milk.” Certainly, the processing made the milk barely thicker and yellowish, which may 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 count on to see the dairy business launch “cold-processed” pressure-treated milk within the U.S. Will this milk have the identical advantages as actual uncooked milk? A letter printed within the Summer time 2021 subject of Clever Traditions3 signifies that the reply is not any!
“For a few years I’ve been conÂsuming uncooked milk from a pastured dairy in France referred to as Gaborit,” wrote our correspondent. “Nevertheless, 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.
After I started to have hassle with my tooth, I started to suspect the likelihood that the native ‘uncooked’ milk (Rohmilch in German) is perhaps thermized (heated) though to not the temperature of pasÂteurization (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 a very good twenty years), who sneezed (purple 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. Nevertheless, I need to admit that I used to be the primary to be stunned 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.
Nonetheless, a couple of 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.
Throughout 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 crammed, and whereas ready, was capable of get the French milk once more. I went to the dentist at this time and he or she couldn’t imagine her eyes.
Within the area of lower than a month throughout which I used to be as soon as once more capable of receive the actual licensed uncooked milk from France, all of the beforehand broken tooth had calcified and hardened as a type of self-healing, to the purpose that she informed 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 subsequently assume that the cows are fed in response to anthroposophical pointers. Nevertheless, this dairy additionally produces pasteurized milk, so I questioned whether or not their Rohmilch is de facto 100% uncooked and, above all, non-thermized.
After I contacted them, they assured me that the milk was not heat-treated in any method, solely that they handed it via a cellulose membrane aimed to take away any impurities or filth from the milk — however I believe that is achieved with all milk and isn’t a dangerous course of except achieved beneath excessive stress.”
We have no idea whether or not this milk was handed beneath stress via a membrane or subjected to the identical excessive stress processing strategies now used for juice, smoothies and so many different “chilly processed” meals, however it’s clear that stress reduces the therapeutic properties of Nature’s excellent meals.
Since we do not know what HPP does to the dietary qualities of the meals we eat, it’s finest to train warning: make your personal salad dressing, salsa and guacamole, cook dinner from scratch, solely purchase oysters which have been shucked earlier than you, and above all, stick with actual, uncooked milk bought instantly from a farmer you realize.
Concerning the Creator
Sally Fallon Morell is writer of the best-selling cookbook Nourishing Traditions and lots of different books on food plan 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.
